Not So Charming Teens
by charmedmarie
Summary: Sequel to Charming Teens.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Victor sat uncomfortably on the couch. He watched as Prue paced back and forth in front of him. "You know, you're making me dizzy right?"

"Let's just cut to the chase here, what do you want?" Prue asked eying him suspiciously. She hadn't let the others come into the sunroom yet. She didn't trust Victor, hell she barely knew him.

"Look, I don't want anything. I heard about everything that happened with Phoebe and I felt like I needed to be here."

"You felt like you needed to be here? What about when she was 8 and broke her arm. Or how about when mom had to take off work because Piper had her tonsils taken out, where were you then?"

Victor stood up slowly. He'd never admit it, but Prue scared him a little. She reminded him so much of her grandmother. "I know I'm not perfect Prue, far from it. But, you are my daughters. I can't go back in time and change things, but I can be here now. All I want is a chance."

"Yea, well you could come back for that chance a long time ago, why now? You're not taking these girls away from me."

"Why now? One of my daughters nearly die and you want to know why I came back? Listen Prue, I'm not here as a threat to you. I know how hard you've worked, I know how much you sacraficed, I wouldn't dream of taking the girls from you. I came back to help, that's all." Victor walked closer to her, he reached out his arms to try and hug her.

Prue snatched away from him. "I don't need your help!" She turned to walk away from him.

"Can I at least see them?" Victor called out behind her.

Piper watched as Prue stomped by her. "That bad huh?"

Prue only met her with a stare. "He's in the sunroom." She proceeded to head up the stairs.

"Should we check on her?" Leo looked from Piper to Phoebe then finally to Paige.

"No." Andy stood up. "I should check on her."

Phoebe watched as he started up the stairs. Slowly she stood up and followed

Piper into the sunroom, leaving Cole, Leo, Kyle and Paige in the dinning room.

"Paige, aren't you going to go?" Kyle asked.

"No, he's not my dad." Paige turned and walked to the stairs. She knew that Victor wasn't her dad. She had met her real dad, but only once when she was 6. Vaguely she thought back to the day in the park when her grams took her there. She didn't remember much, she just remembered that her grams was in a hurry that day. Almost like she was scared for Paige to meet him. Paige started for her room but stopped as she heard Prue talking to Andy.

"What if he is only trying to help?" Andy asked.

"Who's side are you on?"

Paige jumped a little as she heard Prue slam what she thought was the closed door.

"I don't need his help Andy. I haven't needed it since Grams died. If he thinks he can just walk back into our lives..."

"Prue. What if he realizes that he screwed up and now he wants to be a part of your life? You don't want to give him that chance?"

"I don't trust him. What if he's here to take the girls from me?"

"I don't think he would do that." You could tell he was trying to convince her, but the more Prue thought about the more angry it made her.

"Paige?"

She turned to see Piper standing behind her.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Paige backed away from the door a little.

"Victor wants to see you." Piper motioned for her to come with her.

"Why?" Paige asked with her feet firmly planted.

"Paige he cares about you too." Piper reached down and pulled her by the arm. As they entered the sun room they saw Phoebe there talking to Victor. Something was different though, she looked pale.

"Pheebs, you ok?" Piper walked over to her. As she got closer she could hear the rasphiness in her breathing.

"I fell kind of funny." Phoebe was trying to keep herself together. She felt everything go fuzzy as she started to faint.

"Prue!" Piper shouted just as she reached out and caught Phoebe. Victor jumped from his seat helping Piper hold Phoebe's body.

You could hear her feet racing down the steps. The moment she saw Piper there holding her little sister, she turned to Victor. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." He looked from Prue to Phoebe. "She needs to get to the hospital." He stood up, pulling his keys from his pocket.

Prue watched as Andy pushed passed her, picking Phoebe up into his arms. "Let's go."

Victor raced outside, opening a door for Andy and Phoebe.

Everything was happening so quick, Prue didn't even have time to protest. Quickly she ran to the car. Within seconds everyone from the house was filed inside and following quickly behind Victor.

Prue shook her head fighting back tears. "Not again." She whispered as a single tear fell from her eyes. "Please not again."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 Good News, and Bad News

The familiar and unwanted sound of heart monitors beeping filled the air in the small room. A very protective Piper sat beside Cole watching Phoebe lay there sleeping. They had been here for nearly three hours now, still waiting on test results. Slowly, Phoebe's eyes started to twitch. She opened them slightly and smiled weakly at Piper.

"Hey honey, how ya feeling?" Piper smiled as she brushed back her little sister's hair.

"Tired." She let her eyes slowly close again. She didn't want to tell her sister about the aching in her chest. It scared her enough, she didn't want it to scare Piper as well.

Cole walked over and placed his hand on top of hers.

Outside the room things were no where near as peaceful. Prue hadn't taken her eyes off of Victor since they arrived there. She watched as he paced back and forth waiting to hear from the doctor.

Slowly he turned to Prue. "Prue, I know you don't want me here."

"You're damn right I don't want you here." She felt Andy's hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her back a step.

"She's my daughter Prue, I'm not leaving here."

"Really, last time I looked the only thing you've ever been good at is leaving. You lost the right to be here when you abandoned us."

"It's not like that, there were reasons that I had to leave. I can't make up the time I lost, but I can be here now."

Just as Prue started to argue a man walked up to them. "Halliwell family?"

Prue and Victor spoke at the same time. "Yes."

Prue shot Victor an evil glare.

"I'm Dr. Adams, I'm a cardiovascular specialist and I'll be taking care of Phoebe."

"A specialist? I thought everything was going ok with her heart? Is she going to be ok?" Prue's voice now sounded concerned.

"It seems that her heart wasn't as strong as her previous doctor had believed. I see by her chart that she was just released earlier today, has she had any stress put on her since this morning?"

Prue once again looked in Victor's direction. "I think I know where the source of stress could have come from."

"Right back at you." Victor snapped at her.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Dr. Adams eyed Victor suspiciously.

"Victor, I'm her father."

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought..."

Prue cut him off. "I'm her guardian, this is just the man that slept with our mother."

The doctor blushed slightly. "I'm not sure what the situation is here, but you all need to step easy around her. Her heart is very delicate right now. She doesn't need any added stress. I'd like to keep her for a couple of hours, just to monitor her heart and get her test results back. I'm also going to change her medication. Hopefully this will help to strengthen her heart." With that he turned and walked back down the hallway.

Prue turned to her dad. "Nice going Victor, you aren't even here a day and you give her a heart attack."

"And it took you how long to get her shot?" He spat back. They stood nose to nose now.

"That's it!" Andy raised his voice and stepped between the two. "The two of you have got to stop. I understand there's tension here, I get that. Right now, if you really want to do what's best for Phoebe, you need to figure out some way to get along. Until Phoebe tells you to leave Victor, you're welcome to stay."

Prue let out a sigh of disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"Let me finish." He turned from Prue to Victor. "The minute she says she doesn't want you here, you're gone. Deal?"

"Deal." Victor nodded his head.

"Now, neither of you will go in to see Phoebe until you work out some type of truce. Play nice." He turned from them and walked down the hallway back to Phoebe's room.

"So that's little Andy?" Victor asked as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"He's not so little anymore." Prue corrected him as she sat down a few chairs from him.

"I know you don't trust me Prue, but if you would just give me a chance."

"Save it Victor. Just because Andy said for me to be nice to you doesn't mean I have to. These girls are my responsibility, they have been every since Grams died."

"I'm not here as a threat. I just want to get to know my daughters. I have my reason's for not being around."

"You mean Paige. How do you think this makes her feel?"

"No, not because of Paige. I use to take her every other weekend when I picked the rest of you up. I didn't treat her any different and I don't plan on starting now."

"Then why did you disappear after mom died? We lost both of our parents at the same time. It wasn't fair to us."

"I can't tell you yet, but I promise I will when the time is right. I can tell you that I never stopped caring about you girls."

"You would never know it from our end."

"Excuse me, Ms. Halliwell?"

Prue looked up to see Dr Adams. "Yes." Victor stood up at the same time she did.

"There's good news and bad news. The bad news is it seems your sister suffered a mild heart attack. The good news is it's nothing that's not healable, but definatly something that could be aggravated. Her rhythm is normal now, so she can go home in an hour or so. I'll make sure her scripts are ready for you to pick up on you're way out."

"Ok. Thank you." Prue ran her fingers through her dark hair.

Slowly she and Victor turned and started walking to Phoebe's room. Prue was trying to work out in her head what she was going to say to her sisters.

"You're not alone in this." Victor reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

For just a moment Prue felt comforted. She almost let her guard down. Almost. Quickly she shrugged off the feeling as well as his hand. "You can help by getting the others from the cafeteria." Prue walked off leaving a hurt Victor standing in the hallway.

Shaking his head he turned and started for the elevator.

Down in the cafeteria Leo, Kyle and Paige were finishing up their snacks. "I'll take those. Leo stood up and gathered up the trays to take them to the trash.

Kyle waited until Leo was far enough away not to hear him. "So, you wanna talk about it?"

"About what?"

"This Victor guy." Kyle watched Paige's expression fade to an empty look.

"Not much to talk about really, he's their dad, not mine." Paige folded her hands in her lap.

"He seemed pretty interested to see you earlier."

Paige felt a little less empty. "Really?"

"Yea, I kinda listened in on there conversation." He shrugged.

"Really? So...what else did you hear?"

"Just that he wanted to be a part of your life as well as your sisters. He said he thought of you as one of his girls."

"If that's the case then where has he been all this time?"

Kyle started to tell her more but stopped as he saw Victor talking to Leo. "That doesn't look good."

Paige turned to see what he was looking at. By the look on Leo's face she could tell it wasn't good news. She and Kyle started over in their direction.

Victor couldn't help but smile when he saw Paige walking toward them. She was just a baby the last time he saw her. He thought back to that day. He thought back to the argument he and Grams had, the argument that led to his leaving. He had no idea how long it would take for them to find out the truth. How long until they knew who they were really were? He sighed as he gathered enough courage to speak to her.

"I haven't seen you in so long. I can't believe you're all grown up."

Paige rolled her eyes. She hated when people talked to her like that. "How's Phoebe?"

"Well, I think Prue would rather be the one to talk to you. She's waiting upstairs for us." He watched as Leo started out with Paige and Kyle behind him. "Paige?"

"Yeah." She turned to face him.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

She thought about it for a minute before motioning for Kyle to go with Leo. "We'll be up in a minute."

The two took the hint and continued on to Phoebe's room.

"So talk." She eyed him curiously.

"There's no easy way to say this, but I need to clear the air between you and I. I know I'm not you're real father, but I do think of you as my daughter."

"Yea, I can tell. You didn't bother to come see any of us." She could see that hurt him.

"I deserve that. But, I want to make up for the past now. I want to be a part of your life, all of you."

"No offense Victor." She said his name with tone that let him know he had pushed her buttons. "I was to young to have any memories of mom when she died, and I definitely don't remember you. I had a Grams, that loved me enough to be a big part of my life. I have three sisters as well as a boyfriend. If you're really here just to be a part of our lives that's fine, but, if you think for one minute you can separate my sisters or myself then you seriously need to hop back on that same bus that brought you here." She turned and stormed angrily to the elevator.

Victor stood there for a minute, stunned. He laughed nervously as he thought about what the teenager had just said. "Just like her mother." He whispered to himself as he started for the elevator. He knew now more than ever, he was staying. He was determined to protect them, no matter if they wanted him to or not.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2 Confusion

The family looked cramped as everyone piled into the small room. Victor stood alone by the door, watching as the nurse finished unhooking the last of the monitors.

"Alright Ms. Halliwell, looks like you're ready to go."

"Thanks." The color had come back into her face and with the exception of her looking tired, she looked like she was back to normal.

"I'll go get the car." Andy kissed Prue lightly on the forehead as he headed to the parking lot.

Victor walked up to the bed, placing a hand on top of Phoebe's. "I'm going to go to the hotel and get a shower, I'll be come by later on tonight to check on you, ok?"

Phoebe nodded and smiled as he walked out the door.

"Let's get you home, again." Prue joked as she helped her sister to sit the rest of the way up in the bed.

A few hours later the sisters sat at the manor. The guys had gone out to get pizza for everyone or so they said. Piper figured they just wanted to get out of the tension. She took a sip from her coffee and watched from the doorway as Prue placed a blanket across Phoebe and Paige. They had fallen asleep together on the couch. Prue smiled as she caught Piper watching her. She quietly walked over to her. "Some pair, huh?" She walked past her into the kitchen.

"It's like when they were little. Remember how they would always fall back to sleep while we watched cartoons on Saturday morning."

"If I remember correctly that's when you would hog the remote."

"No Prue, that was you." She smiled as she tossed a grape at her sister. "So, what do you think about dad coming back?"

"Well, I think Victor is up to something."

"Really? Like what?"

Prue poured a cup of coffee for herself. "I don't know, I just don't trust him."

"He seems pretty sincere to me." She could tell she was hitting a nerve.

"Well, why don't we just change the subject. How are things with you and Leo?"

Piper blushed a little. "Things are fine, how about with you and Andy?"

"We're still in that stage where you're not sure whether to kiss or shake hands."

"Well according to your little rules, handshaking is all that's allowed."

"Hey, last time I checked Andy hasn't snuck out of my room in the wee hours of the morning." She looked at her sister and for the first time could tell that something was bothering her. "Is everything ok?"

"Yea. It's nothing."

"You sure?"

Piper looked up at Prue. She was giving her that same look that meant she knew Piper was lying. She hated that look. "It's just, I love Leo, I don't doubt that, but..."

"But what?"

"See, there's this guy in my history class, and lately, he's just been talking to me a lot."

"Really now, has Leo got some competition?" Prue asked.

"No." Piper threw another grape at Prue. "It's not like that."

"Does this guy have a name?"

"Yea, Dan."

"Well, if you really love Leo, I would say that you need to explain this to Dan. Let him know that you have a boyfriend and that you're happy."

"I do, and I will." Piper turned as she heard the door open and watched as she saw Andy and Leo come through the door.

"Where's Cole and Kyle?" Prue watched as Leo struggled with the pizza boxes.

"It's getting late so we dropped them off." Andy walked up behind Prue and slid his arms around her waist.

Piper let out a very loud, very fake cough, causing Prue to pull to the side away from Andy, while at the same time shooting her an evil look.

"Did I miss something?" Andy asked.

"No." Prue leaned herself back into Andy pulling his arms back around her.

"I think I'm gonna head home too." Leo started for the door.

"I'll walk you out." Piper followed after him, throwing her arm around his waist and looking over her shoulder to give a playful smile back to Prue.

"Call me if anything changes." Leo kissed her gently and started to pull away, but Piper put her arms around him pulling him closer to him. As Piper loosened her grip, Leo smiled down at her. "What was that for?"

"Just felt like doing it."

"Well, that kinda makes me want to stay."

"I don't have a problem with it." Piper smiled as she led him back into the house. They both stopped as they watched Prue lead Andy up the stairs.

"I thought there weren't going to be anymore sleep overs?"

"Well, if she can, so can I?" Piper smiled as she pushed the door too behind her. They were almost to the stairs when she heard a knock on the door. She walked back and opened it revealing Victor standing there.

"Well, can I come in?"

Piper stepped back and watched as Victor continued through the house. "Where's Prue?"

"She's in her room, but..."

Victor cut her off. "I know the way." He hurried up the stairs. He didn't hear what was going on behind the door and had no idea until he pushed it open, revealing Andy leaning over a shirtless Prue. "What the hell?"

Prue scrambled to get her shirt back on as Andy began to fumble for words. "Mr Bennett, um, I can explain."

"No explanation needed. Get the hell out of here." Victor watched as Prue started to protest but just watched as Andy quickly exited the room.

"Who do you think you are?" She asked as she started for him.

"Apparently I'm the man who just walked in on his daughter making out with the kid next door."

"He's not a kid Victor, and you have some nerve calling me your daughter."

"This is your idea of responsible? This is how you take care of your sisters. I walk in to you with a guy already in your room, and Piper's downstairs bringing a guy upstairs into her room."

"What!" Prue shouted as she passed him and started down the stairs.

"I tried to stop him." Piper tried to explain.

"Where's Leo?" Prue asked, checking in the kitchen.

"He left when dad, I mean Victor, came in."

"Well from the looks of the way things are run around here, it looks like you girls need a father figure around. If nothing else to prevent me from becoming a grand father any time soon."

"Keep your voice down." Piper instructed as she saw Phoebe stirring on the couch. She reached out and grabbed Prue and Victor both, pulling them through the back door and onto the patio. "We can't fight like this, especially not around her."

"Well, I don't care who you think you are, you aren't moving in here." Prue crossed her arms over her chest.

"You know what Prue, I wanted to tell you this in a different way. The reason I came by so late was to let you girls know that I'm back for good. I bought a house Prue, not just any house either."

"So, what do want me say, good for you?"

"How about hello neighbor." Victor said, crossing his arms in the same way she had just a moment earlier.

"Hold on, did you just say neighbor?" Piper asked stepping up between the two.

"That's right. You may be able to keep me out of this house, which is fine by me because I didn't come here to tear these girls away from you, but if you'll look just over this fence you'll be looking into my back yard." Victor motioned for the girls to look.

Prue climbed on a chair and peeked over the side. There she could see the bright sold sign sitting at the edge of the driveway. "You can't be serious." She turned to Victor.

"You better believe I am." Victor smiled a cocky smile at her as he turned to walk away from them.

"This cannot be happening." Prue mumbled as she watched Victor walk into the yard next door.

"This is bad. This is real bad." Piper sat down at the picnic table they had huddled around so many times when she was little.

"He can't get away with this." Prue sat next to Piper, running her fingers through her long dark hair.

"So Andy was in your room, huh?" Piper couldn't help but smile a little. She had just caught the perfect Prue.

"Don't start." Prue said as she playfully nudged her sister.

Victor walked into the empty house and sat down on the edge of a box. He slid a picture frame out of an open box beside him. It was one of him and Patty standing in front the manor. "Please Patty, help me save our girls." He stood up and placed the picture on the mantle, wiping a single tear from his face. How could he get through to them, how could he make them see that he was a good dad.


	4. Chapter 4

Graduation

Phoebe smiled as she felt the sun gently warming her face. She had bee home for two weeks now and felt better that ever. She had weekly appointments with her heart doctor, but things were looking good for her. She was even excited about going to Piper's graduation tonight. Cole had come over every afternoon to help her with her school work. She had gotten excused from coming to class, they were letting her finish up her lessons at home, and with Cole's help, she was going to be able to pass with no problems.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Piper asked as she sat beside her on the front step.

"Just enjoying the day. You nervous? About tonight I mean."

"No, not really. After everything we've been through the past couple months this seems simple."

Phoebe noticed Piper looking at the house next door. She knew she was thinking about Victor. "Ya know, I think he's really trying to make up for the past."

"I know, it's just hard to forget." Piper sighed as she rested her head in her hands.

"How bout just forgive? Seems a little less complicated."

"I don't think I have as big of a problem with it as Prue does."

"She'll come around." Phoebe slowly stood up. "I feel like a walk. Wanna join me?"

"Sure." Piper stood with her sister and the two started down the sidewalk.

Victor watched from the window. He wondered if they even had a clue. He wondered if they knew how much danger they would soon be in. He watched until they were out of sight. He knew Prue was still there, her car hadn't left the driveway. Victor picked up the small envelope he had just sealed earlier. Now would be a good time to try and catch Prue alone. Walking up to the manor he couldn't help but feel strange as he knocked on the door. So many times years ago he just opened it and walked in, this use to be his home.

Prue opened the door with a smile that quickly began to fade. "Victor. Look, Phoebe's not here."

"I know. I actually came by to see you." He waited for a moment for her to respond, she never once let down her suspicious stair. "Can I come in?"

"I guess." She turned from him leaving the door opened and walked into the sun room.

Victor could see the stack of papers on the end table. He knew they were bills. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, I was just figuring things up." Prue started to gather the envelopes and papers into a stack. "What do you want Victor?"

Just the way she said his name made his heart ache. This was once the little girl that ran up to him every afternoon. She was always the first to greet him when he came home from work. "I just wanted to give you this." He reached out and gave her the envelope.

Prue eyed him suspiciously as she ran her finger through the opening, tearing the envelope apart. She couldn't help but let her jaw drop as she saw the check inside. The amount was in bold print. $35,000.00. She thought for a moment before she placed the check back inside and gestured to hand it back to him. "I can't accept this."

"Yes, you can. It's not a gift Prue, it's a settlement."

"Settlement?" She asked, her face showing a look of confusion.

"When you're mother and I divorced I was to pay child support every month. I tried to send it but your Grams returned my checks. I've put the money in a savings account every month, even after you adopted your sisters. I want to give you this as a settlement, to make up for what you didn't get back then."

"So this is guilt money?" Her tone sounded harsh.

"No Prue, this belongs to you and your sisters. Look, would you just give me a chance?"

Prue thought about the money and how desperately they needed it right now. With the time she missed from work with Phoebe as well as the cost of Phoebe's medication she was falling behind on almost all her payments. "What's the catch?"

There's no catch Prue, but I would like to help. Don't answer yet, just think about this for me, and please don't think of it as a threat. I would like visitation rights with your sisters. Granted Phoebe and Paige are the only ones who are still minors, but I would like to work out some kind of arrangement." He could tell by Prue's expression she was getting pissed off. "Hear me out. If after you think about it and decide not to, all you have to say is no. But, if you decide to let me do this, I will have it legally drawn up and I will pay you child support, just as I was suppose to pay your mother. I want to make things right Prue."

She sat there for a minute, concentrating almost as if to try and read his thoughts. "I'll talk to Phoebe and Paige. I think this is something they should decide." Part of her wanted to be mad but the other part couldn't help but notice how sincere he was being. She couldn't help but want to believe him. She watched as he left the manor, slowly closing the door behind him

Later that night Piper stood in her cap and gown, waiting on everything to get started.

"You look amazing."

She turned expecting to find Leo, but instead saw Dan. "Thanks. You look pretty good as well."

"Look, Piper, I know we don't really know each other that well, but I was kind of hoping that maybe you'd like to go out sometime."

"Huh?"

"Ya know, like on a date. If you want to that is."

"Dan, um..." Piper started but was cut off by Leo.

"Sorry I'm late, my mom took forever getting ready." He leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Leo, you know Dan." Piper was trying her best to avoid eye contact.

"Yea." Leo smiled as he shook Dan's hand. "Hey, didn't you get a baseball scholarship?"

"Yea." Dan hung his head a little. How could he not have known that she was with Leo. He felt awkward standing there watching them. "What about you, any plans for college?"

"Um.." Leo started but he knew he needed to talk to Piper first. Just as he was about to start they heard the announcement for them to line up.

"What were you gong to say?" Piper asked as they were ushered for the stage.

"Well, I got an offer."

"What kind of offer?"

"Can we talk about this later?" He nervously started to walk away to his place closer to the end of the line.

"No." Piper reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

Leo scratched his forehead as he gathered his courage. "My uncle wants me to come to Florida to work for his company." Leo hurried away from her to his place in line knowing he would have a lot of explaining to do later.

Piper shook her head, trying to see if she had actually heard him right. _No, he couldn't have said that, I just heard him wrong. He wouldn't move to Florida, would he?_

"Piper Halliwell."

She was torn from her thoughts as she heard the announcer call her name. Shaking her head she smiled as she crossed the stage. She took her diploma and looked out at her sisters. Each of them clapping and cheering. She noticed on the other side that Victor was right on the other side of Phoebe, smiling and clapping with them. She forced a smile on her face as she walked off the stage and waited with her other classmates.

After the caps were thrown and once again retrieved Piper walked over to her sisters. She saw from over her shoulder Leo standing with his mom and Dad. She noticed his face and knew now she had heard him right. He didn't look happy, or excited, he just looked disappointed.

"Congratulation." Prue grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. Followed by Phoebe and Paige, then last, Victor.

"Thanks guys." She smiled as Prue snapped a shot of her and the two youngest sisters.

"Why don't you get in there with her?" Victor asked as he gestured to take the camera from her. She smiled a little as she handed him the camera and stepped in beside Piper. The four girls smiled as Victor took another picture.

Prue watched as Leo made his way through the crowd. "How bout one of the happy couple?" She watched as Leo slowly put his arm around Piper and they both forced a smile for the picture.

"Ok, I'll go get the car." Prue turned and ushered the others to come with her. They started for the car leaving Piper alone with Leo.

"We need to talk." Leo took Piper by the hand as they started down the pathway.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5Destiny Part 1

Piper sat in the window seal watching the rain fall. It had only been a week since graduation. So many thoughts raced through her mind. How was she going to deal with this? Leo had a really good offer to go work with his uncle, she couldn't hold him back. He asked her to go with him and she had thought seriously about going. She knew though that right now, her place was here. Now that she was out of school she could help Prue out more.

"Penny for you thoughts." Phoebe smiled as she walked closer to her sister.

"You look like you feel better." Piper slid over making room for another seat on the window seal.

"I do. I can't say the same for you though. Leo?"

"Yea." She sighed as she turned back to watch the rain fall. "He asked me to go with him."

"Really. What did you tell him?" Phoebe tried not too look as worried as she felt.

"I thought about it and I came to the conclusion that it's not where I need to be right now." She let her fingers trace the rain drops down the window.

Phoebe leaned over and placed an arm around her big sister. "It'll all work out."

"I hope so." She slowly stood and held her hand out to help Phoebe up. "Come on, I'll fix us some lunch."

Next door Victor sat flipping through a photo album. He couldn't help but smile at the pictures of the girls when they were younger. There were pictures of the girls playing soccer and pictures of them opening Christmas presents. He stopped and ran his finger across one picture in particular. It was one of all four girls seated on the sofa. Paige was still in diapers. He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. He flipped another page to find one of Patty standing on the steps. He fought back a tear that threatened to fall. He was torn from his thoughts when a very familiar voice came from behind him.

"Hello Victor."

He slowly turned. It was a familiar voice, but not necessarily one he liked to here. The ghostly image made the hair on his neck stand on end. "Penny?"

"Take a breath Victor. I didn't kill you when I was alive, I'm sure not gonna do now that I'm dead."

"But...what...why...how?" He stumbled over the words as he searched for the right questions to ask.

"First things first, have a seat before you pass out." She motioned for him to sit in a chair.

Victor did as she said, never taking his eyes off of her. Gathering his composure once again he found the breath to speak. "Why are you here?"

"You need help Victor. Granted, I didn't like you before, but these are my darlings. I'm here to help you. You're the only one that knows their secret, the only one that knows their destiny."

"What if I don't want them to know?" He watched as the woman looked shocked at his tone.

"You don't have a choice in the matter." She could see the concern in his eyes. "I understand that you're worried, but if they don't fulfill their destiny it only places them more in harms way."

"Really, me keeping them from the big bad puts them in harms way. Come on Penny. Look where it got you, look where it got Patty. By the way, why didn't she come to help me? Why you?"

"Because..." She paused for a moment, trying to get the right words.

"Because why? Damn it Penny I deserve an explanation."

"Because it's too painful for her." Penny blurted out, immediately regretting it once she said it. She watched as Victor's face softened. "Look, I don't know why, but my daughter still harbors pretty strong feelings for you. You need to deal with that on your own, but when it comes to my granddaughters you need me. You need my help."

Victor thought about it for a moment before looking back to Penny. "I don't think I can do this."

She walked closer to him. "You have to Victor. You have to tell them, then they can prepare themselves." She could see that she was getting through to him.

"When? When do I have to tell them?"

"Tomorrow night. That's when the spell I cast to put their powers on hold wears off. Once they are in the manor together they will receive their powers. Not all of them, but the ones they should have gotten by now. I'll leave you for now, but I will be back and I will be with you when you tell them." She slowly started to fade.

"Wait." Victor called out.

She looked impatiently at him. "Yes."

"Tell Patty I said hello."

She nodded thoughtfully and slowly began to fade away, leaving a confused and concerned Victor there to his own thoughts.

A few blocks away Leo quietly stood in front of his half packed suitcase. He held a picture of he and Piper in the park. He thought back to that day, to the way her face looked in the sunlight. He thought of how they walked just talking about anything and everything. He smiled as he sat down on the bed, still holding the picture. He looked up as he heard the knock on his door.

"You ready son?" His father stood there, car keys in hand.

"Do I have to go. I'd really rather stay here." His eyes pleaded with his dad.

"I know this is hard for you, but its not permanent. You'll only be there for a few months to..." He stopped himself, he couldn't tell his son too much.

Leo sensed he was hiding something. "To what dad? What are you not telling me?"

He watched as his father let out a sigh.

"There are things about this family you need to learn. There's more to your future than you know Leo." He looked at his son, wanting so bad to tell him of his destiny, but he knew he couldn't. He knew the time and the place wasn't right. Looking down at the picture in Leo's hand he also knew of the young girls destiny. The only way for the two teenagers to be able to fulfill their destiny's was to separate them. He could see how his son was hurting. Knowing he'd get in trouble for it later, he tossed the keys to Leo. "You have two hours before your flight leaves, go see her."

Leo knew his dad was hiding something, but seeing Piper was more important to him than finding out what the secret was. "Thanks dad." Leo sprung from the bed and headed for the door.

His dad sat there for a moment before looking to the ceiling, almost as if to answer someone talking. "I know." He spoke out to the empty room. "But he is my son, and it's my decision on what's best for him." He waited for a moment before shaking his head almost in disgust. He stood and started out of the room.

Across town Prue sat with Paige in the therapist's office. She had been going twice a week now, and at least for the moment, her nightmares had slowed down. Prue watched as Paige nervously

fidget with a charm bracelet that dangled from her wrist. "What are you so jumpy for?" Prue asked as turned to face her baby sister.

"Nothing." Paige said as she released the charm she was jiggling between her fingers.

"You know, even though you're seeing a therapist, you can still talk to me."

"I know." Paige looked up at Prue. "It's just the nightmares have eased up, but there are..." She stopped as a woman walked past hold the hand of a young girl.

"There are what?" Prue asked.

"Other dreams, ones that I can't explain."

Getting a little nervous herself now she watched her sister. "What kind of dreams?"

"They're hard to explain, and I really don't want to talk to Dr. Sara about it. They aren't really nightmares." It was still hard for Paige to get use to calling the doctor by her first name. She figured it was just something to make things easier for a kid.

"Well, you are here to get help dealing with everything that happened in the attack. If you these dreams have nothing to do with what happened, then just don't mention it."

"Paige Halliwell?"

Paige turned and smiled at the woman who stood their with a file in her hand. "Be back in a little while." She got up and followed the woman through the door and down the hallway.

Prue was left sitting there with her own thoughts. She had been having pretty strange dreams as well. She wondered if they were the same as Paige's. They couldn't be, it wasn't possible. She couldn't help but wonder though, she thought about the dream she had last night. She could still see everything clearly. She could see her sisters there with her, the chandelier glowing a golden light. She shook the thoughts from her mind and picked up a magazine. _It's just not possible_. She thought once more before opening the magazine.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6Magic

He had reached for that door bell three times now and just couldn't make himself push the button. _Get it together, come on. Just let her know its only for a few months, it's not permanent_.

His thoughts raced on what he should say, even what he should do. He was about to ring the bell when the door jerked open.

"Leo?" Phoebe tried to smile, but she could tell by his face he was hurting just as bad a Piper was.

"Hey. Is Piper around?"

"Yea, she's in the kitchen." Phoebe stepped aside so he could make his way through the door. She reached behind her closing it, this wasn't really something she wanted to hear.

Piper stood at the sink washing the last of the plates. She looked out the window and could see the sun peaking out now. It had finally stopped raining.

"Hey there." Leo tried to smile as she turned around to face him. His heart was hurting so bad at this point.

"Hey." She placed the last plate in the strainer and started to the table. Pulling out a chair she motioned for Leo to do the same. "Have a seat."

Leo did as she suggested and reached out, placing his hand on hers.

"What time is your flight?"

"I got about an hour before I have to be home. Look, Piper, I wanted to talk to you. You know if you don't want me to go all you have to do is say so. I can still cancel this whole job thing."

She sighed as she thought about it. "I can't let you do that. It's a good opportunity for you."

"I'm only suppose to be gone for a few months. My dad says its more like training than anything else. I just don't want to leave here if it means I can't come back to you...to us."

She repositioned her hand, now holding his. "Leo, I love you. Nothing will change that. Nothing will make me fell any different." She slid closer to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder. She felt safe that way.

Phoebe smiled as she saw Cole pull up to the curb. "It's about time." She joked.

"Miss me?" He walked up to her, kissing her gently on the cheek.

"Nah, well maybe a little." She waited as he opened the door for her. He was taking her to her appointment today since Prue had been busy with Paige. She liked it better when Cole got to take her. It was hard to be happy right now though, knowing what Piper must be going through.

"You ok?" Cole asked as he climbed in the front seat, closing his door.

"Yea. Leo leaves today."

"Oh." He put the car in gear and slowly headed down the road. He was never very good at those kind of things.

Prue put her magazine down as she heard Paige's voice trailing from behind the door. She watched as her baby sister walked through the door. She couldn't help but notice how happy she looked. Picking up her purse she walked with Paige toward the exit. "I take it you had a good visit."

"Yea. Dr Sara thinks after a few more sessions I won't be crazy."

"Not funny. You're not crazy."

"Yea, and you aren't neurotic." She punched her sister playfully on the arm.

"Fine, how bout some lunch?"

Paige nodded and a few minutes later the two were siting in a booth at the Burger Shak.

"I still don't see what makes you like to eat here." Prue picked up her menu, trying to figure out what she wanted.

"I like it cause its greasy and I don't have to do the dishes." She watched as Prue made faces while scanning the menu. "Prue, can I talk to you?"

Prue looked across the table. Paige's smile had now faded which made her feel a little less than happy. "What is it?"

"Well, you know those dreams I mentioned earlier?"

Prue choked on the drink of water she had just taken.

"You ok?" Paige asked, handing her a napkin.

"Yea, I'm fine. You were saying?" Prue tried to play it off and hoped Paige didn't see through it.

"Well, I really don't understand them. I mean the nightmares were all about Charlie and what he did to Phoebe. These are different."

"How so?"

She took a breath as she searched for the right words. "I don't want to sound like a little kid or something, but these dreams...well...they have monsters in them."

"Monsters?" Prue thought back to the dream she had last night. The dream with what to her looked like a monster.

"Yea, and he's really creepy."

"Oh." Prue thought for a moment but before she could comment she heard her name being called from behind her. She and Paige turned to see Andy making his way to the table.

"We'll talk about this later." Paige whispered just before Andy slid in next to Prue, kissing her on the forehead.

"I figured Paige would bring you here." He couldn't help but notice the look on both of their faces. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No. Not at all." Paige looked at Prue, pleading with her eyes for her not to say anything.

"No. We were just about to get a plate of grease." Prue watched as her sister smiled at her comment. "Care to join us?"

"Sure, my shift is up and I love this place."

Prue tried not to think about the dreams, but she couldn't help it. It just wasn't possible for her and Paige to have the same dream, was it?

Leo had left the manor, not willingly though. He was still thinking about Piper when he pulled into his driveway. He slowly got out of the car and made his way inside. His dad was sitting on the sofa, Leo's suitcase at his feet. "Ready to get rid of me?"

His dad looked up. "Of course not. I just thought I'd help you." He didn't tell him the real reason why he had brought his suitcase down.

"Well I filled the car up so, I guess I'm ready when you are."

"We won't be needing it." His dad sighed as he stood up, reaching down and pulling Leo's suitcase up with him.

"I don't have to go?" Leo asked, unable to hide his excitement.

"Yes, you're still going. Son, you know you're most important thing to me and your mother, right."

He nodded. "Dad you're scaring me."

"I'm not trying to. Leo there are things about this family you don't know, things we couldn't tell you until you were old enough. We were suppose to tell you before now, but we wanted you to have a normal childhood, a normal life."

"I don't understand?"

He watched as his dad reached out his hand. "Trust me."

Leo reached out, taking his dad's hand. He felt his heart race as the two of them disappeared into a rain of blue and white orbs. In a matter of seconds the two were surrounded with what looked like clouds. Quickly he snatched his hand back from his father.

"Just calm down. Take a breath." His dad reached out placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down. What the hell was that? This ain't Florida."

"I see we'll have to work on his language Christopher."

Leo heard the voice and watched as his father turned to face the man who wore what looked like a white robe. "How does he know your name?" Leo's faced showed all the confusion he was feeling.

"Zola." Leo's dad reached out and shook the mans hand.

"You must be Leo?" The man extended out his hand firmly shaking Leo's.

"Right now, I'm confused."

"Don't be. I'm Zola, one of the many elders here."

"Elder?" Leo asked.

"You haven't told him anything?" Zola looked to his dad.

"No."

"So he doesn't know you're an elder?"

Again his father answered no. Leo watched as Zola pulled his father just far enough away so that he couldn't hear them. He could see that his dad wasn't happy. After a few minutes of discussion with Zola his dad walked back to him, leaving Zola behind.

"I know you don't understand right now, but I promise you will."

"Yea, I don't understand. You're a...whatever that guy said."

"I'm an elder son. A good magical being."

"Magic? Wait is mom one of those too?"

"No. You're mother is a white lighter."

"A white what?" Leo could now feel a headache coming on.

"White lighter, she guides good witches. It's a long story but to make it short we were never suppose to be together, never suppose to fall in love. We did, which broke the rules. The powers I possess as an elder were not passed to you when you were born, but you're mother's were. You are the only natural born white lighter to exist."

"Well that only makes me feel like more of a freak."

He grabbed his son by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. "You are far from a freak. This is your destiny."

"What if I don't want it? What if I want to go back to my normal life?" Leo could tell by his fathers face there was no answer for his questions. He couldn't help but notice how helpless his father looked.

"Leo." Zola walked up behind his father. "You are here to learn to master you're powers. After that you do have the chance to choose you're destiny. All that we ask is you give us a chance first. Let us show you the good you can do before you decide."

Leo did have a strong feeling inside of him. A feeling that this is where he was suppose to be. He thought for a moment before looking to Zola. "I have one question."

"Ask away."

"Do I have to wear the robe?"

Zola tried to fight back a smile as did Leo's dad. "Not at first."

"Ok, I'll stay and see what this is about." Leo looked around him. Wondering to himself if this was really happening. Wondering if this could really happen.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Destiny Part 2

Prue groggily walked into the kitchen that next morning, squinting to see the coffee pot. Last night had been a long one. Piper was up most of the night, crying over Leo. Paige had spent the night with her friend Julie but she was kind of glad about that. She wasn't really looking forward to finishing the dream conversation, its was just a little too creepy. Phoebe came home late, she and Cole had been out celebrating the good news from her doctors visit. It seemed now that Phoebe's heart was strengthening and all was turning back to normal. Andy had left early, giving Prue time to be with Piper, he knew there was nothing he could do to help.

"Save some for me." Piper called out as she came in behind Prue.

"You're up early." She pulled another cup down from the cabinet.

"Well, I have decided that if it's meant to be there's no reason for me to worry. Leo will only be gone for a few months. I can wait."

"Good, I'm glad you're doing better with this. Maybe even doing well enough to cook a little breakfast?" Prue hinted, nudging her little sister playfully.

"Sure." Piper replied sarcastically. "As long as you agree to do the dishes."

Prue made a face behind her back but was busted as Phoebe entered. "I saw that." She playfully as she made a similar face to Prue.

"See, I knew there was a reason I liked her." Piper tossed a wash clothe at the table.

"So I'm guessing I made it in time for breakfast?" Phoebe smiled as she watched Piper roll her eyes.

"Yea, yea." Piper placed her hands on her hips, looking sternly at the two. "You know, one day I'm gonna teach you two how to cook."

Prue and Phoebe shared a look before bursting into laughter. Piper soon joined in with them.

"I hope they don't test the food out on me." Paige smiled as she walked into the kitchen.

"You're home early." Prue watched as her baby sister pulled out a chair.

"Julie had a family thing to go to, so I had her drop me off here."

"You're just in time for breakfast." Phoebe smiled as she saw the irritated look on Piper's face.

Next door victor could see from his window into the kitchen where the girls were. By the looks of his face you could tell he hadn't slept. He watched as the four sisters sat together, laughing with each other. His heart felt so heavy, knowing what was in store for them.

"People will think you're a peeping tom." Victor hesitated before turning around, he knew that voice, there was no mistaking it.

He felt his heart skip a beat as he finally gathered the courage to face her. She looked exactly the same, her hair, her face. "Patty?" His voice was almost like a whisper.

"Hi." She tried to smile, but she was so unsure about how he felt.

Victor watched as she walked closer to him. Something about was different though, she wasn't transparent like Penny had been. He blinked hard, trying to make sure he was really seeing her. "Am I dreaming?"

"No." She reached up placing a tender hand on his face. "I'm real, but only for today."

Victor wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a tight hug, something he had wanted to do for so long. He couldn't help but love her, no matter how bad she had hurt him before. "How?"

Pulling away from him she looked up and smiled. "Let's just say they owed me one up there. After all, it's not everyday your daughters become..." Her voice trailed off as she now saw what he had been looking at earlier. She couldn't help but feel overwhelmed at the sight of her four girls there in the window. They had grown so much, she couldn't believe it. "That's my girls?" She asked as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"That's them." Victor placed an arm around her shoulders. "They're so much like you were, like you use to be."

Phoebe smiled as she stood up from the table. "I'll be right back." She turned and started for the stairs. It was time again to take her medicine, she had pretty much gotten her schedule memorized. She reached her room and took the pill bottle from the dresser. She started to head back down stairs, but something caught her eye. She walked closer to the attic door. There was a light just barely glowing from under the door. She reached her hand out, knowing no one had been in their since grams died. Slowly she pulled the door open, looking cautiously around before stepping into the room. There in the corner the sunlight was shining solely on a chest in the corner. Phoebe wanted to walk out, but it was almost like something was pulling her to it. She knelt down by the chest, reaching out slowly to open the lid. There on top was an old antique looking book. She opened the book, revealing pages of what she assumed were monsters.

"Grams, what were you into?" She mumbled to her self. She flipped back to the first page. She looked around to make sure her sisters hadn't followed her in here. Quietly, she looked back at the book, reading the words on the page.

"Hear the words of the witches

the secrets we hide in the night,

the oldest of the gods are invoked here,

the great work of magic is sought

and on this night and in this hour

I call upon the ancient power

bring your power unto me

I want the power, give me the power

and as my will so mote it be."

She felt a shiver go up her spine. "What the hell was that?" She asked out loud. Suddenly, not feeling quite so safe she grabbed the book and headed for the stairs. She had to show this to her sisters. She sprinted down the steps. "Hey guys!!" She called out.

Prue was the first followed by Piper and Paige. "What is it Pheebs?" Prue asked. She could tell something had scared her.

As the four girls stood there they all watched as the chandelier above them began to glow.

Piper looked from the chandelier to Prue. "I didn't think that worked."

"It didn't." Prue reached out, talking the book from Phoebe. "Where did you get this?"

"From the attic."

"You went up there, no ones been up there since grams died." Paige suddenly felt a uneasy.

"I don't know, it was like something was calling me to come in there." Phoebe watched as Prue flipped through the pages.

"This is a book of spells." Prue walked into the sunroom, sitting on the sofa never taking her eyes off of the book.

"What kind of spells?" Piper asked as she walked over sitting down next to Prue. Phoebe and Paige both followed gathering around the two.

"Like magic. From what I can tell this is a book of witchcraft." Prue felt even more uneasy as she flipped to a page, showing one of the monsters from her dream. Looking up at Paige's face she could tell she recognized it tool.

They all jumped as they heard the knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Paige walked away to the door. She couldn't help but feel a little on end. She opened the door to see Victor standing there.

"Can I come in?"

"Now's not a good time." She started to close the door but felt it stop as Victor placed a hand up on the door.

"You found the book didn't you?" He watched as Paige turned toward the sunroom.

"PRUE!!!!" She called out, walking quickly back to her sister, almost as if to hide behind her.

Victor followed her. "Don't be scared." He held out his hands, almost to gesture her was there in peace. "Just relax."

"What are you talking about?" Prue stood up, getting defensive.

"He knows about the book." Paige watched as Prue stepped out in front of the rest of them.

"You knew about this." Prue asked him.

"Yes." Victor let out a sigh. "But there's someone who can better explain. Just...don't freak out." He motioned behind him for her to come in. He watched as the girls faces went from fear to shock as Patty came into view.

"Mom?" Piper gasped, just before losing consciousness. Paige and Phoebe reached out together catching her before she hit the floor.

"Well, that went well." Victor whispered to Patty as they rushed in closer to the girls.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry it took so long, but I did make this chapter a little longer than normal. Please remember to review if you read.

Chapter 7 Truths

Prue stood at the sink wetting a wash clothe. Thoughts raced through her mind. There's no way this can be happening, after all they've been through these past few years, after all that's happened since Grams died, there's no way she or her sisters could tolerate too many more surprises. Turning from the kitchen she walked back to the sun room, placing the clothe on Piper who was now opening her eyes.

"So, let me get this straight, we're, we're, what exactly are we?" Paige looked from Victor to her mom.

"You're witches, good witches, all four of you are. Just the same as your Grams and I were."

Phoebe watched as her mother spoke. She had missed her so much for so long. She was three, maybe four when she died. She hardly had any memories of her, the ones she did hold in her mind were faint. "Are you a...a ghost?"

Patty smiled a little small. "Actually I am. The fact that you can see me tells me that you've received your powers."

"What powers?" Prue eyed her mom suspiciously.

"The four of you each possess a unique power. You'll find that your powers are linked to your emotions. In time, you'll come to understand, even control them."

"What if we don't want them?" It was Piper who spoke this time. She had been listening to all that was said and now felt something...something hard to explain. Almost like fear. The fear that they were no longer safe.

Patty looked to her daughter who was now fully awake. "You can't deny them Piper, they are part of you, they are part of your destiny."

"Wait." Prue now stopped from the steady pacing she had been doing while her mom talked. "All the things Grams use to say about us being meant for great things, us have a destiny to fulfill, this is what she meant? Us turning into some kind of freaks is what she meant?"

"You're not freaks." Victor stepped up, now standing directly beside Patty.

"Are you a witch too?" Paige asked.

"No, no...uh, I'm not magical at all. Just your moms side of the family." He looked to Patty for a little help.

"I know this is a lot to take in, I know that this is difficult for all of you, but you need to be prepared. Now that you've received your powers its only a matter of time before you all are in..." She paused as she thought about it. She thought back to all the demons she had fought alone, all the demons she had fought with her mother. Suddenly the thought didn't seem so much like a good thing.

"All in what?" Phoebe watched as her mother's face took on a look of concern.

"Danger." She looked over at Victor, knowing now how he felt earlier. One by one she looked over the girls faces. It hit her then how young they really were. Taking a breath she spoke. "You girls have powers that many forms of evil would love to have. It won't be long now before you'll have to fight to defend them." Looking over to the table she now noticed the book. "The Book of Shadows." She walked closer, letting her fingers trace over the cover.

"So, this thing is real?" Paige watched as her mom looked deep in thought.

"Very real." She flipped open the book, scanning the pages one by one.

"Mom?" Piper watched as Patty let her thoughts subside and looked over to her daughters.

"I'm fine. Its just...it's been a while since I've seen it." Seeing the looks on their faces she knew this would take some time. She felt the pull and knew it was time for her to go now anyway. "I have to get back." She hugged each girl, taking in their touch, their smell, taking in the beauty of her four daughters. "I'll be back to check on you girls, blessed be." She waved to them as she disappeared in a golden light.

Prue turned to Victor who was still standing in the door way. "You knew about this?"

He quietly nodded his head.

"Then why didn't you tell us before now?" Prue watched, trying to read his expression.

Victor ran a hand through his hair. "Would you have believed me if I had?" He knew in her expression she wouldn't have. He turned and walked to the door, leaving behind him the manor, and three very confused sisters.

The sisters sat there, all with the same thoughts wondering through their minds. Prue, finally having enough of the silence, was the first to speak. "This is just too much, I need a drink." She stood up too quickly, knocking a vase off of the table beside her. She turned to try and catch it before it hit the ground. Before she could stretch her hands out she watched as the vase froze in mid air. "I didn't do that." She said as backed away from the vase.

"I think I did." Piper felt her face blush as her sisters turned to her. "I just kinda threw my hands up and it froze."

"That's too cool." Phoebe's smile faded as Prue glared at her. "Well, it is."

"Undo it." Prue looked from the vase to Piper.

"I don't know how?" She watched as Paige walked over to the vase.

Paige reached out, taking hold of the vase. They all watched as it seemed to be released from the freeze and Paige gently sat it back on the table.

Prue turned and started out of the room, two fingers placed on the bridge of her nose as if to rub away an oncoming headache.

"Where are you going?" Phoebe called out behind her.

"Out." Was all they heard before the door slammed shut.

Phoebe looked over to Piper, still thinking about how she had made the vase freeze. Looking back over to Paige she couldn't help but smile. "Wonder what kind of power we have?" She giggled along with her as the two reached for the book, searching for a description of their powers.

"You two are something else." Piper shook her head as she stood up and headed for the kitchen. She wasn't really worried about Prue, she knew her big sister would be ok. She sighed as she started a pot of coffee. Just because Prue was the strong one didn't mean she wouldn't be up until she got home.

Prue turned the corner. She had been walking for a half an hour now. She tried to sort through the thoughts that ran through her mind. How could this be true. There was no such thing as magic. No such thing as witches. There couldn't be, how is it possible? She thought about what her mom had said, about how they were all in danger. Great, just what they need. It's not hard enough trying to take care of her three sisters but lets add magical powers and evil to all the other problems they had going on right now. The weight of being the big sister finally started to push down on her. Worry now began to sink in. How would she protect them now? She had a power, supposedly, but she had no idea what it was. What good was that?

She had been so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice nor hear the footsteps behind her. She didn't even notice that the street she was walking down had no lights or that most of the buildings there were vacant.

Behind her he smiled as he followed. He was a safe distance back, far enough to where she didn't know he was there. He hated her, he dearly hated her. He had followed her from the manor. He knew she was a witch now, a witch that had received her powers. He wondered if she had the same powers as her mom. Those exact powers that were unable to save his own parents so many years ago. He would make her regret she was born, he knew she was the reason that his parents died. She was the reason that Patty couldn't save them. The hate now ran through his veins.

15 years earlier.

Patty sat on the bench watching her girls play on the merry-go-round, three of them at least. Paige was in the infant carrier in front of her chewing on a teething ring. She looked down and smiled and the 6 month old.

A man and a woman sat at the corner table in the park. Out on the swings a small boy played alone, he was 6 maybe 7 years old. The parents though didn't look like this was a relaxing day at the park. They didn't look like they were having a good time.

"Jake, you have to report this, you can't keep it to yourself." The woman watched and waited for the man to say something.

"I know Grace, I know. But this is different. I didn't just see a man get murdered, whatever killed him wasn't human. I swear I'm not making this up."

Neither of them knew that what he had witnessed was a demon killing a witch. A witch who had control of a very powerful amulet. They didn't know that very same demon was watching them from the bushes as well as the woman he knew to be a witch on the other side of the park.

Dradon smiled as he shimmered from behind the bushes over to the trees just beyond the merry-go-round. Calmly he lifted the hood on his jacket to cover his horribly marked face and walked over toward the three girls playing. He kept his eyes on Patty who was still playing with the baby in the carrier.

Patty cooed at the infant as she handed her a bottle. She looked up only after she heard the girls screaming for her. Looking up she noticed that Prue was missing. Quickly, she picked up the carrier and ran over to her other two daughters.

"That man took Prue." Piper pointed toward the trees where Patty just barely caught glimpse of the man who was holding Prue, one hand covering the young girls mouth.

"Watch your sister." She placed the carrier down and gave chase, running past the other play equipment and into the shade of the large trees that bordered the park.

"Mommy." Prue screamed as the man sat her down.

He hid behind large oak just to the right of her. He watched as the young Prue screamed again for her mom, now crying. He smiled as Patty came into view. "Thank you." He spoke with a smile just as he shimmered out from behind the tree and directly behind the couple on the bench. The little boy looked up just in time to see the demon stab his father through the heart, following to his mother.

Dradon turned to the little boy, a wide smile still present on his face. "Thank the witch again for me." He pointed over to Patty. The little boy turned to see the woman coming from the woods with a little girl, not much smaller than him. He turned back around to see that the demon was gone, only his parents lifeless bodies were there behind him.

Back to Present

He shook the memory from his thoughts. This was his chance to get even. She had grown up from that small little girl into a beautiful woman. He could feel his heart speed up. He knew he wouldn't kill her, but he would make her pay. He would make her know what it was like to feel alone, to feel like you have no control.

He smiled as she turned down the alley. He knew that was a dead end. Speeding up now he came to the entrance to the alley just as Prue was turning to come back out.

Startled she put a hand over her chest. "You scared me."

"You should be scared." He threw a punch that connected with her left temple, knocking her to the ground. He pulled her unconscious body into the alley, checking once again to make sure no one saw.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9To Break her Down

She had been lying there for at least an hour. Her jeans had been removed and she could feel the cool air crossing her bare skin. Prue slowly opened her eyes, her head was throbbing. She had to squint at first, her eyes trying to adjust to the dark. She could see windows with large dark curtains, she could see a dresser with a mirror on it in the corner. She reached a hand up, now noticing that both of her hands had been duct taped together.

"What the hell?" She immediately felt panic rise in her throat. She tried to tear the tape with her teeth when she heard a door slam closed. Looking up she saw him. He was around her age, and she could almost swear she knew him. "Who are you?" She tried to hide the fear in her voice.

"Good morning beauty." He walked closer to her, now examining where she had tried to tear the tape. Anger surged through him as he backhanded her across the face.

She felt pain first, which quickly turned to anger. She started to throw her hands up to fight him but he quickly pinned them down above her head. She felt him slip what she thought was a blind fold over her eyes.

"Before you even attempt to, I know you have powers. I also know, you aren't sure how to use them. Your hands will stay tied and your eyes covered, just incase you get any ideas." Cowering over her he couldn't help but feel powerful. This was, after all, the mighty Prue Halliwell. He smiled as he let a hand run over her chest, he could feel her pulse increase. Slowly he began unbuttoning her shirt.

Prue tried to block things out. "Don't." She felt herself grow nauseous as his hand touched her bare skin. She tried to move, tried to fight him, but he had both of her hands pinned down as well as her legs. She could feel him pressing his knees into her thighs.

"The more you fight, the longer this will take." He grinned as he saw her body still squirming under him. With a quick and forceful hand he ripped her panties, leaving her in nothing but the now unbuttoned blouse.

"No! No! No!" She screamed, trying now more than ever to free herself from his grip. Her heart was beating so strongly now she could feel it in her throat. Pain wracked her body as she felt him push inside her. He thrusts his hips violently, each time hurting just a little more than the one before. She bit her lip, trying not to let him have the satisfaction of hearing her scream. She felt his breath on her neck as he pushed the weight of his body against her almost as if trying to crush her.

"I knew you'd be mine one day." He whispered in her ear, his breath heavy.

"I'll never be yours." Her voice now filled with tears. She thought about her sisters, she thought about Andy. "Help me." She whispered under her breath. "Piper please." She called out. Tears now soaked the blind fold. She couldn't stop them. He kept pushing, kept pressing his body harder and harder against hers. The pain was now almost unbearable. She felt like someone was cutting her, piercing her body with the sharpest knife. She felt his body start to shake, his speed increase until finally in one move he held his body was still. She felt his bare skin touching hers. She held back a gag, felling as though she could vomit at any minute.

He reached down, gripping her chin in his hand, squeezing it forcefully. "You'll always be mine." He smiled as he pulled himself off of her. He swung violently, hitting her in the temple nearly knocking her out.

He felt a shudder as a figure appeared in behind him. "Did you do as you were told?"

The man turned to see Dradon, who was now looking at the woman's unconscious body.

"I did." The man watched as Dradon walked closer to her, with a wave of his hand her body was fully dressed. Holding both hands over her body they both watched as she disappeared.

"Wait." He called out, angry that she was gone. "I thought she was mine, I thought that was the deal." He watched as Dradon looked at him, pure evil in his eyes.

"The plan was for you to break her. This way we have an opportunity to sway her. She'll be yours once she uses her power to harm an innocent."

"Where did you send her?"

"To her home."

The man looked at him in disbelief. "Are you crazy, she'll tell her sisters. They'll kill me."

"You forget why we chose her. Not only was she the reason your parents died, she's also the strongest in that family. She's got too much pride to tell her sisters what happened. Holding the pain inside her will only help us to turn her. The pain will fuel her rage, leaving her open to evil."

Piper had already started her second pot of coffee. It had been over an hour since Prue had left and she was starting to get worried. She sat at the table, flipping through the pages of a magazine, not really paying any attention to the words or the pictures.

"She hasn't called?" Phoebe asked as she and Paige walked in, both pulling out a chair.

"Not yet, but you know how she is." Piper tried to sound like she wasn't concerned, like everything was alright. "Did you figure out what you're powers are?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"No." Paige laid her hand on the table.

"Well, I know what mine is." She thought back to earlier, when the vase had fallen. The reality of it all still hadn't set in. She watched as Phoebe stood and walked over to the counter, pulling down Prue's favorite coffee mug.

Piper watched as Phoebe's body tensed up, her eyes closing. Quickly she stood up, running over to her little sisters side.

Phoebe saw the scene flash inside her mind. Prue laid on a bed, her body covered with a sheet. What looked like a blind fold was now resting on her neck, her body curled into the fetal position. Prue's eyes were trying to open, she was breathing only through sobs.

"You ok?" Piper asked as she watched Phoebe open her eyes.

"Prue's hurt, she's hurt bad." Phoebe felt the sting of tears forming in her eyes.

"How do you know?" Paige walked closer to them, fear now filling her heart.

"I saw it, in my mind like a dream or something. But I know it's real, I swear it's real."

"It's ok." Piper pulled her Phoebe in a hug, she could feel her trembling. "We'll find her." She turned grabbing her keys from the hook.

"Wait." Phoebe thought about what she had seen. The room was all to familiar. "She's in her room, that's where I saw her."

The three of them rushed up the stairs, Piper leading them. When they got to Prue's room they could hear her sobbing. Piper pushed the door open, her heart breaking at the sight. She ran to the bed, now able to see the same wounds Phoebe had seen. "Prue?" She asked, her voice still shaky. "Prue!"

Prue opened her eyes fully, now trying to focus on Piper's face. She could see the tears in Piper's eyes. She could see around Piper to Phoebe and Paige, both of which looked scared.

"You're safe now." Piper went to place a hand on her shoulder.

Prue jerked away from her, pulling herself to the opposite side of the bed. She slowly stood herself up, her legs now shaking almost uncontrollably. "I'm fine." She pushed past them to the bathroom. Trying to gather her thoughts as she turned the shower on, stepping in with her clothes still on. Tears rolled down her face as the water hit her body. She tried to steady herself against the wall, losing her strength she slid down the wall, crying harder now. She could hear still hear the man's voice in her mind. "You'll always be mine."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10The Next Hour

Piper could hear Prue crying from the shower. Turning to a very worried Phoebe and Paige she knew they didn't need to see this, not right now at least. "Why don't you two order us a pizza?"

Phoebe looked from Paige back to Piper. "You're kidding, right. We're not stupid Piper."

"I know." She tried to look as calm as possible. "Just let me see if I can talk to her. You know how protective she is, she won't want to tell you two."

"What makes you think she'll tell you?" Paige asked, her hands now resting on her hips.

"I don't know, just let me try. Ok?" She watched as the other two reluctantly walked from the room. Taking in a breath she knocked on the door. "Prue." She called out before opening it. Looking through the curtain she saw Prue there, her arms wrapped around her knees rocking slowly back and forth. Her clothes were soaked and her eyes were swollen from the crying. Piper leaned in, turning the water off. "Prue." She spoke almost in a whisper, this time Prue looked at her.

"Please, just go." Prue turned her face away, too ashamed of herself to let Piper look at her.

"No." Piper watched as tears slipped down Prue's face. "Talk to me Prue. Please." She reached in, taking hold of Prue's hand. Slowly she pulled her sister up from the tub.

"I need a shower." Prue looked at Piper but only for a brief second.

"You can't take a shower with your clothes on." Piper brushed back her sister's hair that had now matted to her forehead. She could see the bruise that was now forming above Prue's temple. As if getting ready to bathe a child Piper started to help Prue.

"I can do it." Prue pushed Piper's hands away from her. She pulled the curtain to, removing her blouse and handing it out to Piper.

Piper then noticed the blisters on Prue's wrists. Tears fell more now. What had happened? Who hurt her sister? Questions ran through her mind as she tried to grasp the situation. One by one Prue handed her each article of clothing.

"Piper, will you stay in here. I...I just don't want to be alone right now." Prue tried to hide the hurt in her voice, but she knew Piper probably heard it.

"I'm not going anywhere." Piper stood outside the shower, towel in hand. She could hear Prue sob every now and then and the steam from the shower made it almost difficult to breathe. She wondered how Prue could stand the water being so hot.

Prue took the wash clothe and scrubbed her body. Almost hard enough to take the skin off. She felt sick as she looked to the drain. She could see the blood that the water had washed from inside her thighs. She tried to close her eyes, to drowned out the thought. The only thing she saw was the mans face.

After what seemed like forever she reached down cutting the water off. Peeking her head out the curtain she saw Piper still standing there. She reached out taking the towel from Piper's hand and wrapped it tightly around her body. Without saying a word she walked past Piper to her dresser, taking out a tee shirt and a pair of Andy's boxers. She felt her hear ache thinking about Andy now. How would she ever tell him? How could he ever look at her the same?

Piper sat on Prue's bed, waiting patiently as Prue walked back into the bathroom to get dressed. She thought of so many things, maybe Prue got attacked by a demon, maybe she got into a fight with someone. One thing was certain, Prue rarely cried. This scared Piper the most. She lifted her head when she heard the door open. Her eyes immediately fell to Prue's legs. Her inner thighs were now showed horrible deep bruises. "Talk to me Prue." She didn't even try to hide her tears this time.

"I'm fine Piper. I promise."

"No. You're not fine. Prue what happened?" She watched her sister, trying read what she was thinking.

"It's a long story Piper, I don't want to talk about it." She started for the door.

Piper reached up, grabbing Prue by the arm. "Damn it Prue. I can't help you if you won't let me in. Look at me."

Prue kept her eyes to the ground.

"Look at me!" Piper's voice was angry. Prue hadn't heard her yell like that in a long time.

"I'm fine!" She still didn't make eye contact with Piper, she couldn't. "Just give me a minute, ok?"

Piper didn't want to. Her heart told her she should stay but she knew Prue wouldn't tell her anything until she was ready herself. "Fine." Piper put her arms around Prue, pulling her into a tight hug. "Promise me you'll let me help. You don't have to be the strongest."

Prue rested her head on Pipers shoulder. She felt safe. Hard to believe though that her little sister could make her feel safe. It was her job to protect them, not the other way around. She wanted so bad to tell her, to lean on her, but she knew if she did she would break. She wouldn't be able to protect her sisters if she was a wreck. "I promise." Without looking at Piper she pulled herself from her sisters arms.

Piper walked downstairs and joined her two younger sisters. They were now in the kitchen picking at a pizza. Phoebe was the first to notice her. "Is she ok?"

"I...um...to be honest Pheebs I don't know." Piper pulled out a chair and ran a hand through her long brown hair. "She won't talk."

"Was it a demon or one of those war thingies?" Paige asked.

Phoebe couldn't help but laugh a little. "She means warlock."

"I don't know, but whatever it was, it hurt her." The three sat there, mostly in silence. They knew they were all thinking the same thing, how would they save their sister?

Upstairs Prue had laid on her bed, curled up in a ball. She couldn't cry, there weren't any more tears. Slowly she let her eyelids close drifting off to sleep. She thought about her sisters, she thought about all the times she held each of them, how it mad her feel safe to know that they were safe. She thought about Andy. How she felt safe wrapped up in his arms. She thought about how gentle his kisses were. She could almost see him, leaning to her, kissing her on the ear lobe. That thought was shattered when she heard him. His voice in her ear. "I knew you'd be mine." She felt his hands on her, his breath on her neck. She felt the pain again inside her. "Don't!" She screamed. "Help me. Piper please." She felt him holding her arms down, felt him shaking her.

"Prue, wake up!" Piper screamed, trying desperately to make her sister open her eyes. "Wake up damn it."

Opening her eyes, Prue saw Piper standing over her, tears welled up in her eyes. Paige and Phoebe stood behind her, both looked terrified. She felt her own body as she trembled, her breath was almost uncontrollable. "I...I'm.."

Piper cut her off. "No, Prue, you're not fine. Far from it."

"We can help you." Phoebe sat on the bed beside Prue. She had never seen her like this. She had seen Prue when she was angry, she had seen her when she was worried, she had even seen her when she was sad. But, never had she seen Prue scared.

"I...I..." She started to tell them, but something wouldn't let her. She didn't want them to see her this way.

"Just tell us what happened." Piper sat beside her taking her hand into her own. "Let us help you."

Outside the window Dradon watched as the sisters sat there together. Looking over to the man who had hurt Prue. "She's close to telling them."

"What do we do? If she lets them help her, she'll never turn."

Dradon looked to him. "No worries Alex." With a smile he disappeared. In minutes he stood behind Piper.

"Look out." Prue screamed as she pushed Piper behind her.

Paige shouted to Phoebe. "Grab the lamp." Before Phoebe could turn to grab it, the lamp disappeared into blue and white lights, landing in Paige's hand. She immediately threw it at the demon, who shimmered out just before the lamp hit him, leaving the lamp to slam into the wall.

"What the hell was that?" Piper asked.

"I think that was a demon." Prue looked up, snapping herself back to reality. She couldn't let this happen again. She had to put the attack out of her head. If she just didn't think about it, she'd be fine. "I think we need to check the book." Prue stood up, quickly followed by Paige.

Phoebe looked at Piper. "She needs to talk to somebody."

Piper nodded her head. "She's too worried about protecting us now to care about herself." Slowly she and Phoebe followed her sisters.

Alex smiled as he watched them rush to the book. "It worked."

"I told you it would." Dradon smiled. "All we have to do is wait, the hurt inside her will destroy her and bring her to the point of using her powers for personal gain, and with a little help from us, it'll make her harm an innocent."

Alex looked back over to her, taking in every inch of her. He smiled as he thought back to earlier, to feeling her around him. "Then she'll be mine."


	11. Chapter 11

Confessions

Her body twisted and wrenched as the vision filled her mind.

_The demon that had just attacked stood talking to a man. _

"_She's ready."_

"_Are you sure?" Alex questioned. _

"_I am, she hasn't spoken to anyone, she hasn't said anything. The emotions have consumed her heart and with a slight nudge from us we can turn her."_

She opened her eyes, looking directly at Prue who was wrapped up in the book.

Piper noticed the same look Phoebe had earlier. "Can I talk to you?"

Phoebe nodded and followed Piper into the hallway. "I had another premowhatever."

"What did you see?" Piper watched as her sister started to explain. She could see the concern in her eyes.

"It was the demon that attacked. He was talking to some guy about turning Prue, I think he meant turning her evil. He said something about her not talking to anyone. He said that her emotions had consumed her heart."

"That's not good." Piper looked back around at Prue who was still standing over the book.

"Piper, we gotta get her to talk." Phoebe watched as her sister nodded in agreement.

The two walked into the room, Piper placed a hand on Prue's shoulder startling her. "Sorry."

"It's ok. I think this is the demon. His name is Dradon. It says here he feeds off of anger and sorrow."

"Prue." Piper stopped her. "We really need to talk."

"Not now." Prue started to continue with the description of the demon. Her description was cut short when Phoebe reached up, slamming the book closed.

"Now Prue." Phoebe had to struggle a little to catch her breath. She didn't want to admit that she felt a little less than fine.

Prue noticed though, she saw how Phoebe was almost gasping. She knew that the doctor had said no stress, and for the most part they had kept it that way. Looking in her eyes she was almost like looking in a mirror a few months back. She saw the same worry, concern, and hurt that she had felt when Phoebe was attacked. Something tugged at her heart. She felt it so strong it nearly took her breath. "Ok" Her voice was almost a whisper.

The four sat down on the sofa. Prue took in a breath, as if trying to think exactly of what she would say.

"Start by where you went, when you left here." Piper reached out, putting her arm around Prue's shoulders, as if to gesture that she was safe.

"I...I just wanted to go for a walk, to clear my head. I was thinking about the book, and about what mom had said about demons attacking...before I realized it, I had turned down into an alley." She took in another deep breath, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "I...don't remember exactly what happened, I think someone...hit...me, I remember feeling a sharp pain in my head...everything went black." She felt Piper squeeze her shoulder, holding her tighter. "When I opened my eyes, my hands were taped together, and I..my..." She couldn't stop the tears now, and her breaths were shaky and shallow. Just thinking about all of it made her ache.

"It's ok." Phoebe sat down in the floor in front of Prue, taking hold of her hand. Paige stood a few feet away, her arms across her chest almost as if hugging herself.

"My jeans were gone. I...I tried to tear the tape with my teeth, but it wouldn't break. Then this guy came in...he got mad when he saw where I had tried to bite into the tape and he...hit...me. He climbed on top...I tried to fight him, I swear I did...I tried to move. He put a blindfold..." She was now crying though every sentence.

Piper felt her own tears fall as Prue spoke. She couldn't nor did she try to stop them.

"He...he...he raped me. I felt him inside me...I felt the pain go through my body. I tried to make him stop...I couldn't...I couldn't...fight...him." She felt as though a barrier had been let down. She felt then and there for the first time that she didn't have to protect anyone, for the first time she felt protected.

The sisters sat there now, each one crying. Each one except Paige. She didn't cry, although it broke her heart watching Prue fall apart. She felt almost as if a part of her slipped away right then. This was Prue. This was the one person that Paige had always thought was unbreakable. Sure they had a tough time the past year, but Prue had never been vulnerable.

_If she can't protect herself, how can she protect us?_ Paige immediately regretted thinking it. But it was true.

"Damn it." Dradon threw down a ball of fire as he watched the sisters.

"You do realize they'll come after us, don't you?" Alex paced nervously. He had heard about the prophecy of their powers. He knew these were to be the most powerful witches. Dradon had followed their heritage from the beginning. He had followed all the way back from the first witch in their line. That's how he knew about the powers. That's how he knew when to attack and exactly why they wanted to sway Prue. Turning her would turn the other sisters. It would make them the most powerful source of evil. "Dradon?" Alex watched as the demon who had raised him after he killed his parents looked steadily at the witches. "Dradon!"

"I know." Placing a hand on Alex's shoulder he shimmered the two of them away from the manor.

Prue had finally fallen asleep on Piper's bed. Paige had fallen asleep in a Piper quietly closed the door behind her, walking back down stairs. She jumped a little when she heard a knock on the door.

"I got it." Phoebe called out as she ran to the door. "Andy, hi."

"Hey, is Prue home?" Andy watched as Phoebe looked back to Piper.

"She...um...Andy now's not a good time." Piper watched as Andy's face fell.

"What's going on?" He looked at Piper, almost as if trying to read her mind.

"I'll get her to call you tomorrow. I promise."

Andy nodded and reluctatley turned back out the door.

Phoebe could tell this was weighing on Piper. "You ok?"

"I'm fine. You should get some sleep."

Phoebe nodded admitting to herself that she really was tired. "Can we all camp out in your room?"

Piper nodded and watched as Phoebe headed up the stairs. She felt like she could break at any moment. How could all of this be happening, how could they be dealing with this now. Leo, she wanted Leo. She wanted to be in his arms, she wanted to hear his heart beating. The sound of the phone ringing made her jump. She quickly picked it up, hoping by some small chance it was Leo. "Hello."

"Hey, Piper. It's Dan."

She felt a flutter in her heart. Just talking to Dan would be ok, wouldn't it. I mean, talking isn't cheating. This would help too, it would take her mind off of everything for a while.

"You there?" Dan asked.

"Yea, I'm hear." She pulled out a chair, twirling the cord in her hand.

"I...um...I just wanted to talk to you. I knew you were upset about Leo leaving, I just wanted to see how you were."

She smiled, this actually felt ok. It wasn't Leo, but it was the next best thing.

Alex sat in the empty room, the same room where he had been with Prue. The pillow still had her sent on it. He could remember watching her in high school. He could remember watching her walk down hallways and eating in the cafeteria. He hadn't talked to her, Dradon had forbid him from doing so. He's was a little older than Prue anyway, so it wasn't like he actually got the chance.

He had started out hating her, Dradon had explained to him early on that Prue was the reason his parents were killed. Dradon had taken care of him after that, he was the closest thing to family that he had.

Something was different about her now. In most ways he still hated her. He wanted her to pay for his parents death. He wanted her to feel the hurt. He wanted her to be his, for him to control. That was his their plan, at least until today. He knew now that she had opened up to her sisters she wouldn't turn. The rage was gone.

That didn't mean he couldn't still make her his. "You will be mine." He said to himself as he hugged the pillow close to his body. "You'll always be mine."


	12. Chapter 12

Just Friends

It had been three days since Prue told them about the attack. She hardly slept, and when she did it was never peaceful. A lot of nights she would wake up to Piper or Phoebe there, trying their best to pull her out of her nightmares.

Prue was sitting up in her bed, Phoebe lay sleeping on the other side of her. She watched as her sister smiled in her sleep, which made her smile in return. What she wouldn't give to have a nights sleep like that. Just one night, without seeing his face, without feeling his touch. She felt a shiver cross over her as she thought about it. Andy had called all week. She couldn't bring herself to face him, let alone talk to him. She knew her sisters hadn't told him what happened, she asked them not to. She just couldn't face him, not yet at least.

Piper sat on the sofa in the sunroom. It was 11:30 and still there was no sign of Paige. She dialed her cell and once again heard the voice mail pick up. She let out a frustrated sigh. This was so unlike Paige. She had never been like this. Paige was always the one who did her homework on time, she always came home when she was suppose to. The past couple of days though she had been slipping. Slipping away from her sisters, away from her usual friends.

Piper ran a hand through her long brown hair, hoping again that her sister was ok.

Just outside Paige sat in the car, gathering her courage to get out.

"Maybe they're asleep."

Paige smiled at her friend Lacie as she opened the door. "I hope so."

Piper heard the door as it closed. She watched as Paige walked quietly past the doorway, grabbing the door frame for support. "Where have you been?"

Paige jumped at the sound of Piper's voice. She figured that Piper would be upstairs asleep with Prue. "Out." Paige said as she let out a nervous giggle.

Piper walked closer to her, now catching a familiar smell. "Paige, are you...drunk?"

Paige giggled again.

"PAIGE!" Piper reached out helping her baby sister to steady herself. "What the hell has gotten into you?"

"What do you care?" Paige tried to push herself past her sister, but felt a tight grip on her forearm that spun her back around.

"Look at me." Piper tightened her grip around Paige's arm. "Look at me!"

Paige looked up in shock, Piper had never yelled at her. She had heard Piper yell at Phoebe and Prue, but never at her. When she looked up at Piper she saw something else in her eyes, something she'd never seen before. Piper was angry, not just in general, but at her. "What?" Paige's voice was low but still had an attitude laced in it.

"Where were you?" Piper tried to keep her voice calm.

"I was with friends Piper, that's all."

"Do you know what time it is? Paige I was worried about you."

"Really Piper, with all the worrying you've done for Prue, and Phoebe, even Leo, did you really have time to worry about me?"

Piper loosened her grip on Paige's arm. Just the way Paige had said it hurt her. Her voice was full of anger, but more so full of pain. She stepped back, looking at Paige in disbelief. "Of course I was worried about you. Why would you say that?"

"Just forget it." Paige turned trying to balance herself up the stairs. "You wouldn't understand." She mumbled over her shoulder as she reached the top of the stairs, slamming her door behind her.

Piper stood there, still looking the stairs.

"She's just trying to deal with everything."

Piper turned around to see Victor standing in the doorway. "It was open." He walked in, closing the door behind him. He could see in her face that she was tired, not only that, but she was worn down. "How's Prue?"

She looked at him confused. "How do you know what happened?"

"Your mother told me. They have a way of finding things out up there." He watched as Piper flopped back down on the sofa.

"She's doing, not great but we're working on that."

"What about you?"

She wanted to tell him she was falling apart. She wanted to tell him that this was way too much for her to handle. Prue's nightmare's, knowing that Phoebe's heart was still so weak, not knowing what was going on with Paige, and to top it all off, they found out they were witches, she didn't know of anyone who could handle it. "I'm good." She just nodded as she lied to him.

"I'm just next door if you need me Piper. You know that, right?"

"I know." She looked at him, trying to put on the best smile she could. "We're fine, really."

"Well, just let me know." He stood and walked out, hoping she would call him, he wanted so bad to help.

Piper felt herself jump as the phone ring. Laughing to herself she picked it up. "Hello."

"Hey." Dan's voice came through the line.

"Hey you." Piper couldn't help but smile. She actually felt comfort when she heard Dan's voice.

"I hope it's not too late, I couldn't sleep and thought I'd check in with you."

"No, it's not too late." She continued talking to him. It was almost like an escape. She hadn't talked to Leo since he left. She had talked to Leo's dad once, but all he told her was Leo had a very busy schedule. Dan was nice, and talking to him wasn't cheating on Leo, after all, it was just talking.

Paige lay on her bed trying to focus. Staring at the ceiling she felt as if the room were spinning. She knew she was drunk, this was the first time she had ever had this much to drink. She thought about the party she had just come from. It was at some guys house, down by the beach. She thought his name was Richard, but she couldn't remember for sure. She watched as the room seemed to spin faster. She slowly got up, knowing she was fixing to be sick. It only took her a few minutes to make it down the hallway to the bathroom. There she sat in the floor, emptying the entire contents of her stomach. She felt as though she could fall asleep right there, her eyes started to drift closed. Feeling the cool on the back of her neck made her open them again.

"This might help." Prue wiped the back of her neck with the clothe.

"I thought you were asleep."

"The way you sounded, I thought you might be dying." Prue kneeled down beside her, pushing her hair back from her face.

"Are you going to yell at me too" Paige asked, her voice sounding tired.

"Depends, do I need to yell at you?"

Paige didn't say anything, she just rested her head on her arms.

"Talk to me Paige." Prue watched as her sisters eyes fluttered a little. "Missy Paige?"

"You know I hate that name." Paige felt weak as she lifted her head up.

"How much did you drink?" Prue watched as Paige shifted her gaze to the floor.

"A lot."

Prue felt like she was back to a few months earlier, when it was Phoebe coming home late. She had been hard on Phoebe, so hard that Phoebe had shut her out. She couldn't make the same mistake this time. "I'll make you a deal." Prue stood up, reaching out to help Paige up. "I won't yell at you this time, if you promise to talk to one of us."

"Can I talk tomorrow?" She asked, leaning into her big sisters shoulder.

"Sure." Prue helped her to her bed, turning the light off as she left the room. She started down the stairs, she wasn't sleepy so she might as well watch a movie. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, hearing Piper on the phone. "Who's that?" Prue whispered as she walked in, sliding on the couch beside Piper.

"I'll call you back tomorrow." Piper hung up the phone, still smiling. "That, was Dan."

"Really? I thought it might be Leo."

"Apparently, Leo's too busy to talk to me." Her smile now faded.

"You know as well as I do it can't be that." Prue leaned over, laying her head on Piper's shoulder. "He loves you Piper."

"He has a funny way of showing it." Piper lowered her voice, almost as if hoping Prue wouldn't hear her. "He asked me out."

Prue sat up, looking at her sister in surprise. "Dan?"

"Yea."

"What did you tell him?"

"Well, it's not like a date, he just want's to go get dinner sometime, as friends. So, I told him yes."

"What about Leo?" Prue didn't sound angry, just surprised.

"We're just friends." Piper sounded more like she was trying to convince herself rather than Prue. "Just friends."


	13. Chapter 13

Replace the Pain

She had slept decently last night, for the first time in weeks. She still had the nightmares, but last night they were less intense. Prue walked down to the kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs filled the air. Her stomach rolled a little as she took in a breath, a queasy feeling came over her. She shook it off as nerves and continued to the table. Piper stood at the stove, she was actually whistling while flipping pancakes.

"You're in a good mood." Prue pulled out a chair and took a seat.

"You don't look so good, another bad night?" Piper watched as Prue brushed the hair away from her face.

"Not as bad as usual, I think I'm starting to..." She stopped as she heard the knock on the door.

"I'll get it, I'll get it." Phoebe shouted as she jogged to the door.

"I'm guessing that's Cole." Piper said as she slid a plate of pancakes and eggs in front of Prue.

They both smiled as they heard Phoebe laughing. She and Cole walked around. "Mind if we join you guys for breakfast?" Phoebe batted her eyes like a child at Piper.

"No...actually there's plenty since I don't think Paige will be joining us." Piper gazed at the stairs shaking her head.

"Oh no." Phoebe sat down alongside Prue, Cole doing the same on her other side. "Was she late coming home again last night?"

"Yea. Just like the night before, and the night before that. I don't know what we're going to do with her." Piper fixed them both a plate, setting them down on the table.

"She's just trying to figure out a way to deal with things, Paige is a good kid." Cole tried to sound reassuring.

"You know," Prue looked up a Phoebe. "She reminds me of someone."

"Hey." Phoebe made a face as if she was hurt but thought about it for a minute. "I think you may be right."

"Well, we got through to you, we'll get through to her." Prue placed a gentle hand of Phoebes.

"If you guys will excuse me, I have to get ready." Piper stood and started for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, I was invited to breakfast." Piper tried to rush up the stairs but was stopped by Phoebe who raced around her. "When did you get so fast?"

"Is Leo back, is he taking you to breakfast?" Phoebe smiled as she thought about it. Leo made Piper happy and he was really a sweet guy.

"Not exactly." Piper sighed, there was no way to get out of this, she'd have to tell them what was going on. "Dan invited me."

Phoebe made a face. "Dan? The baseball player Dan?"

"Hey, his baseball playing got him a scholarship." Piper shot back.

"Don't get defensive." Phoebe looked back at Prue who just shrugged her shoulders. "What about Leo?" Phoebe could see this was a touchy subject for Piper.

"Well, he's either too busy or doesn't care enough to call me, its been over a month and I haven't heard anything. So, Dan asked me out and I said yes. It's not like this is the first time we've gone out."

Prue stepped between them, for the first time in months showing her big sister side. "Ok, lets just calm down. It's Piper's business who she wants to date so we should be happy for her."Prue watched as Phoebe nodded.

"You're right, sorry Piper." Phoebe turned to go back and join Cole.

"And you missy." Prue turned her attention to Piper. "I thought you two were just friends."

"You just said it was my business." Piper grinned as she pushed past Prue leaving her sister there speechless.

Piper sprinted up the stairs until she reached Paige's room. Stopping there she quietly opened the door. Paige lay on the bed, her hair matted and unruly. She had on way too much make up and you could tell that her mascara had run. Piper guessed that was from puking her brains out at some point in time earlier that morning. She watched as Paige rolled from her back to her side, Paige almost doubled over, as if in pain she held her arms over her stomach, letting out a very low moan.

"Paige?" Piper reached out, gently shaking her sister. "You ok?"

Paige groggily opened her eyes. Piper noticed then how bloodshot her eyes were. "I'm fine." She mumbled as she tried to sit up, but the pain made her sit back.

"Paige, what's wrong?" Piper started to feel a knot in her stomach.

"I just...I...you wouldn't understand." Paige turned away from her sister.

"Try me Paige." Piper pushed, hoping she could break through what ever barrier her sister had put up.

"Just drop it, I'm fine." Paige pulled away from Piper, turning to her other side so that her back was facing Piper.

"Paige." Piper started but decided to let it drop, for now at least. She got up, looking once more at her little sister before leaving the room.

Paige was glad she left. She didn't want her to see her, not like this. She was turning into another person, someone she didn't even understand herself. She had gone to another party last night, this one was way more wild than any she had been to. She had drank more this time, she didn't care that she could barely stand up or that she slurred every word that came out of her mouth. She had met a couple of guys there, one she remembered, there was no way she'd ever forget him.

Kyle had been there, but she blew him off. He tried to tell her she had too much to drink, that she needed to go home. She told him to mind his own business, knowing she'd hurt his feelings.

At the time she didn't care, now though, she felt kinda bad about it.

After Kyle left she started talking to Craig. He wasn't really the type she would go out with. He was older than her, about 17 she thought. He had dark brown hair that was shoulder length and an ear ring in his ear. His eyes were the deepest blue, she remembering looking at them and thinking they had a darkness to them. She knew he was a bad boy, you could tell that by looking at him.

She left with him, driving down to the beach. They didn't really talk much, she remembered just staring out at the ocean. Things started to get serious when he kissed her, it was a rough kiss. She never stopped him. She wanted him, more than that, she wanted him to want her.

Since everything had happened to Prue and Phoebe she felt guilty. She was there when Phoebe got shot, there wasn't anything she could do to save her. She had been there when Prue came home from the attack, there was no way to save her either. Worse than that there was no way to get him out of Prue's dreams. He was a part of her now, a part of her heart and soul. It hurt Paige to know she was helpless. It hurt her to watch her sister's struggle, to watch Piper worry and take on the responsibility of taking care of everyone.

For just a little while, she didn't want to think about her sisters. She didn't want to hurt for them. She felt like she deserved him to be rough with her. She deserved to feel pain, to hurt. Almost like it was punishment in someway. She had never been with anyone, he was the first and he knew it. She remembered how hard he kissed her, then how he almost ripped her shirt taking it off. She could remember how course his hands felt against her back. He only spoke to her once.

It was after he had undressed her, he asked if she was sure.

"Yes." She whispered. Nothing about it was gentle. The first thrust sent pains all the way up to her chest. She bit her lip, trying not to say anything, she didn't want him to stop. He leaned down, biting her on the lower part of her neck. Once again she had to stifle a scream. She didn't care, for just a little while she was in control of her pain. She was in control of what happened to her, she let go of her fears, moving with him she actually started to enjoy it. When all was done she laid there, breathless beside him. Her body sore, and aching, she could feel the sand under her bare skin.

They got dressed without a word and he had dropped her off at the manor. She was on her back now, staring at the ceiling. The pounding in her head had ceased, but her stomach as well as the rest of her lower body ached. Leaning over to the night stand she opened the drawer pulling out the small bag of pills she had gotten from Craig at the party. She threw two in her mouth and quickly swallowed. She let her body fall back on the bed, feeling her eyes grow heavy she let herself drift back to sleep. It wouldn't matter if she got up today. No one would care...at least that's what she thought.

Piper sat at the table outside. Dan had met her at the restaurant and was smiling at every word she said. He couldn't help but smile. She was beautiful to him. Her eyes had a sensitive side to them, almost like you could see through to her soul. They were sitting beside each other, his arm resting on her shoulders. He couldn't help but feel his heart race as he looked more intensely at her. He leaned down, kissing her.

She felt her own heart race. This felt right. For the first time in a long time she wasn't thinking about her sisters, she wasn't thinking about Leo. Right here, right now in this moment the only thing she thought about was Dan and how he made her feel. She let herself go. He smiled as he led her from the table, holding tightly to her hand.

"We can go back to the dorm, my room mates gone for the week." Dan watched, not wanting to push her into anything.

"That's sounds good." She leaned up, kissing him again. The two walked hand in hand to her jeep. Sliding into the drivers seat she started the engine. She couldn't help but smile as Dan climbed in, leaning over kissing her on the neck. She couldn't wait to get to his room.


	14. Chapter 14

First Vanquish

Piper sat on Dan's bed watching as he put a cd in the player. He sat down beside her, kissing her again on the neck. She moaned slightly as he gently pushed her back, laying her down. Her thoughts started to drift. She thought about at the café, how he made her feel then. How gentle his kisses were, how soft his touch was. She smiled a little as he started to unbutton her blouse. Once removed he let his hands run over her chest. He leaned down, whispering in her ear. "Are you sure?"

It was then that her mind snapped back to reality. This wasn't Leo. This was not the man she loved. "Dan..." She sat up, placing a hand against his chest. "I can't."

"You can't?" His voice sounding disappointed. He started to press the issue further but was stopped by a knock at the door. Slowly getting up, he opened the door. His jaw dropped, not expecting this. "Leo?"

"Hi, Dan." You could tell he wasn't very comfortable with the situation, trying to fight back his own anger. "Is Piper here?"

Across town at the manor Prue let the hot water run across her body. She tried closing her eyes to let her mind relax, but once again she saw his face. Why couldn't she get this man out of her mind? He was in her thoughts, in her dreams, there was no where to escape from him. She was a witch, right? She was destined to fight evil, in all forms, why couldn't she forget one lousy person. She reached down, cutting the water off. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around her. It only took a few minutes for her to get dressed. She was pulling a pair of socks out of her dresser when she heard a voice from behind her. A voice that made the hair at the nape of her neck stand on end.

"Miss me, love?"

She turned to see Alex standing there, Dradon by his side.

"What, how?" She stumbled over her words as she took a step back. "Piper, Phoebe...HELP!" She screamed, finding it harder to breathe. Panic filled her as Alex took a step toward her. She watched as her door swung open, Phoebe stepped into view.

"Hey!" She screamed, lunging her body toward Alex, knocking him off balance an onto the floor.

Paige rushed through the open door, she stopped in her tracks as she saw Phoebe on the floor, fighting with Alex. Dradon had a fireball positioned, raring back to throw it at Phoebe.

Dradon spotted Paige, turning the fireball to her.

"No!" Prue screamed, rushing at Paige, pushing her to the ground just in time, causing the fireball to collide with the door frame.

"Leo?" Piper quickly pulled her shirt on, trying to cover her bare skin.

He could feel the blood rushing to his face, trying hard not let his temper get the best of him. Through clenched teeth he managed to speak. "We need to talk."

Dan, realizing this wasn't where he needed to be looked from Leo to Piper. "I'll give you two some time." He walked out, not liking the fact he had to leave his own dorm room.

"Leo, it's not what you think." Piper buttoned the last button, standing to face Leo.

"Really, it's not what I think. Let's see, I find my girlfriend in some guys dorm room, with no shirt on, and its not what I think?"

"You're the one that left, remember? It's been two months Leo, no letters no phone calls, nothing. What was I suppose to do, sit here and wait? Put my life on hold? How was I suppose to know you would even come back!"

He took a step back, surprised at the tone in her voice. "I promised you I would come back, Piper, and I always keep my promises."

"Why didn't you call or write, at least send some type of message letting me know you were ok?" She felt tears threatening to fall. It had hurt her so much, not hearing his voice, not seeing his face. Now here he was standing in front of her.

"I couldn't Piper, it was against the rules."

"Against the rules to call your girlfriend?" She crossed her arms over her chest, unable to believe him.

"It doesn't look like you were too worried about me." His eyes went from her to the bed, wondering what exactly had happened.

As if reading his thoughts she spoke in almost a whisper. "Nothing happened Leo. I...I couldn't."

"Doesn't look that way to me. What stopped you Piper, the knock on the door?" He was yelling now.

"You stopped me. All I could think about was you and I stopped." Her tears fell freely now, there's was no use in trying to stop them.

Leo placed a hand on his forehead. "We have to go." He looked over to Piper, trying to shift his thoughts from her to the jingling he could now hear. "Prue's in trouble."

"How do you know that?" She looked at him, confused.

"Just trust me." He held out his hand.

Blue and white lights lit the room as the two disappeared from the dorm room. The same lights appeared in the manor, just in front of where the fireball had hit. There in the room Phoebe wrestled with a man while Prue lay in front of an unconcious Paige. Dradon pulled a knife from behind his back. Piper threw her hands up, but instead of freezing Dradon she froze Alex. Dradon turned, seeing the man he had raised from a boy frozen on the floor.

"No!" He raised a hand, making Alex shimmer out of the room. Turning to Piper he reared back, throwing the knife.

She threw her hands out again, this time freezing the knife just inches from her face.

Prue squinted her eyes, not knowing what she was about to do. They all watched in shock as the knife unfroze, changing directions and piercing Dradon in the chest.

His body began to shake as he looked from the knife to Prue. "You'll never forget. The baby won't allow it." Barely getting the statement from his mouth his body was engulfed in flames, disappearing in a fierce explosion.

"You ok?" Piper asked, helping Phoebe to her feet.

"Yea." Phoebe looked over to Prue, who still lay protectively in front of Paige. "You two alright?"

"Yea, Paige is out cold." Prue watched as Leo knelled down, placing his hands over Paige. A golden light emitted from his hands as Paige came to.

"Wha...What happened?" She looked around, all eyes on her.

"I think we vanquished our first demon." Phoebe said, looking at her sisters. "What did he mean about a baby?"

Piper looked over to Prue, not really wanting to say what she knew was true. "I think he meant..."

Prue cut her off, finishing the sentence for her. "I'm pregnant." Her face went pale as she thought about it. How was she suppose to take care of baby she didn't want to conceive, let alone give birth to. She pulled herself up, not wanting to look any of her sisters in the eye.

"Prue." Phoebe reached up to place a hand on her big sister's shoulder.

Prue pulled away, not looking at her. "Just leave me alone for a little while, please." She tried to hide the tears from her voice.

Piper walked out with Leo, followed by Paige and Phoebe, leaving Prue to herself. None of them wanted to go, but when Prue was like this it was best to leave her be.

Phoebe went with Paige to the sunroom, determined now to get to the bottom of what was going on with her. She watched as Piper lead Leo to her room, knowing that her sister was had a lot of explaining to do.

Phoebe sat down with Paige, noticing now how tired she looked. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

Paige just shook her head no.

"You've got to talk to someone." Phoebe watched as a single tear fell from Paige's brown eyes.

"I can't." Paige hung her head, now starting to cry harder.

Phoebe reached out, pulling her sister into a tight hug. She could feel Paige's body shaking. "Don't shut me out...please." Phoebe's heart broke as she held her sister.

Piper sat down on her bed, watching Leo as he paced in front of her. Clearing her throat she tried to keep her voice steady. "So you know that we're..."

"Witches? Yea, I know."

"So, what exactly are you?" The question made him stop pacing, but he still wouldn't look at Piper.

"I'm a white lighter. A guide for new witches."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He looked over to her now, feeling the anger within him subside a little. "I didn't know, that's where I've been." He walked over, sitting beside her now.

"Where does that leave us?" She looked up to him, seeing that his eyes showed the same hurt she felt. He leaned down, giving in to his heart, and kissed her. He still loved her, and to be honest he couldn't blame her. He wanted to talk to her, but they wouldn't let him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, holding on tight, almost afraid to let go. Afraid he would lose her again.


	15. Chapter 15

If Only for a Little While

Piper felt safe, for the first time in months. Leo was just that for her, her safe place. She let him hold her, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't want him to let go, ever. She felt his grip loosen as he pulled back from her.

"Leo?" She looked at him as he stood up. "Leo, what's wrong?"

"What happened, to Prue?" Leo asked, now growing angry with the elders for keeping him away from the sisters. "While I was gone, the elders wouldn't let me contact you, in any way."

"Elders?"

"They're a group, kind of like advisors. They help to protect good magic." He watched as Piper stood up.

"Wait, protect good magic? What the hell were they doing when Prue was attacked? Where was her protection, or Phoebe's? This family is falling apart, why didn't they want to help protect us from that?"

"What do you mean Prue was attacked?"

"You really don't know?" Piper watched as Leo shook his head. She sighed as she began telling the story, of how Prue went for a walk after they got their powers, how she was attacked and how they found her in her room because of Phoebe's premonition. Her face showed hurt, anger, and worst of all fear. "To top it all off we find out tonight that Prue is pregnant, by some...some...demon."

"I don't think he was a demon Piper."

"What do you mean?" She watched as Leo sat down, resting his elbows on his knees.

"It's part of my power. I can sense evil, like demons and warlocks. When they attacked earlier I only sensed one demonic essence. I think the one that got away was..."

"Human?" Piper finished his sentence.

"Yea."

Prue lay their on her bed thinking about what Dradon had said. A baby. She rested her hand on her stomach, thinking about what was growing inside her. She couldn't imagine being a mom. Worse than that, she couldn't imagine that she would love this baby. How could she? This baby was forced on her, she had no choice. She had thought about one day having kids, but that was long after her sisters were grown and able to take care of themselves. She closed her eyes, letting herself drift to sleep. It didn't take long, her body was worn down.

She started out sleeping peaceful, until she saw his face again. She was in that room again, her hands taped together. He was pinning her down and she could swear she felt his breath on her neck. She could still feel his weight on her, she could still hear his voice. "You'll always be mine."

Down stairs Phoebe sat still holding Paige in her arms. It killed her knowing that Paige was hurting. It hurt even worse knowing she was keeping it all inside. "Paige, honey." Phoebe pulled back from her, looking her in the eye. "Talk to me."

Paige thought for a minute. She knew she needed to tell Phoebe, this was tearing her apart inside. "Phoebe I..."

Before she could finish she heard a scream from Prue's room. Together they both stood up, making their way up the stairs. Leo was standing in the door way, watching as Piper tried to wake Prue.

"No! Help me." Prue's body winced almost as if in pain.

"Prue, it's me. Wake up." Piper shook her again, praying she could pull her sister from this nightmare.

"Piper please."

Piper's heart sank. Had she really called for her during the attack? "Prue!" She screamed again, this time watching as Prue's eyes slowly opened.

Prue sat up, letting Piper pull her into a hug. Phoebe walked in, sitting behind Prue wrapping her arms around her.

Paige watched from the doorway. She had come so close to telling Phoebe what was going on. She let her gaze fall to the ground as she quietly backed away, heading back to her room. She leaned down, picking her cell phone up. She dialed the number and almost felt relief when she heard his voice on the other end.

"Hello."

"Hey Craig, it's Paige." He agreed to pick her up. She hung up the phone and jumped in the shower, getting ready to leave, to get away from it all, if only for a little while.

Piper pulled Prue away from her. "I'm sorry." She let her eyes meet Prue's. "I'm so sorry Prue."

"Wha.." Prue started to question.

"I heard you, in your nightmare. You called for me and I wasn't there, I couldn't help you."

Prue couldn't speak. She just lowered her head back down, feeling Phoebe's grip loosen.

Phoebe stood up, now realized that Paige wasn't in the room. She walked past Leo and down the hall. Slowly she opened the door, there she saw Paige pulling on a top that had hardly anything to it. She was wearing a skirt that was way to short for her, Phoebe recognized it because it was hers. "Where are you goin?"

Paige jumped a little. She looked from Phoebe back to the mirror. "I'm going out with a friend."

"No, you're not." Phoebe stepped in, closing the door behind her.

"You can't stop me." Paige continued fixing her hair.

Phoebe walked up, taking the brush from Paige's hand. "Try me." Phoebe placed a hand on her hip, waiting for her sister to speak.

"I don't want to fight with you." She reached around Phoebe, trying to get the brush back.

"Well, that's what's gonna happen if you don't talk to me." She watched as Paige backed down. Paige walked over, plopping down on her bed. "My date's already on his way." She looked up, hoping that would be enough to make her sister leave.

"Well, either you can tell me, or I'll ask him."

"You wouldn't." Paige looked up.

"Try me." Phoebe watched as Paige picked her cell phone up.

Slowly Paige dialed. She sighed as he picked up. "Have to cancel for tonight. Ok?" Turning to Phoebe she crossed her arms. "So talk."

Phoebe walked over, sitting next to Paige on the bed. "I'm not gonna lecture you Paige, I just want you to talk to me."

"It's not a big deal." Paige turned away from Phoebe, not wanting to look at her.

"It looks like a big deal to me." Phoebe eyes searched the room, for any kind of clue as to what was going on. It was then she noticed the corner of a small plastic bag sticking up through the drawer on the night stand. She reached over, pulling the bag out. Inside she could see a bunch of small pills, all different colors.

Paige watched, almost relieved that she had found them.

"Is this what I think it is?" Phoebe asked.

Paige nodded. She was tired of lying, tired of hiding her feelings from everyone. "Craig gave them to me."

"Craig?" Phoebe watched as Paige nodded. "Talk to me." She pulled Paige around to where she was facing her again.

Paige took in a breath and looked up at her sister. She couldn't keep it in any more. She told her. She told her everything. About the party, about Kyle, about meeting Craig and him giving her the pills. She took another breath and lowered her eyes to avoid Phoebe's gaze. She then told her about the beach.

"Why?" Phoebe looked at her. Wondering why her sister would let someone hurt her like that.

"It was the only way I was in control. I could have said no, but I didn't. I had control over the pain, and it made me hurt less." She couldn't make herself look at Phoebe, she knew she had let her down.

After a few seconds of silence, Phoebe finally spoke. Her voice didn't sound mad, or disappointed. "Paige, look at me."

Paige looked up, she could tell that Phoebe had been crying. "I'm sorry Phoebe."

Phoebe watched as her sister broke. All the hurt, all the pain, all the fear that she had been feeling came to the surface then. Paige laid on the bed, covering her face. Phoebe laid behind her, wrapping her arms around Paige. "It's over now." She brushed Paige's hair back.

Leo stood in the hallway, he had walked away giving Piper and Prue a little privacy. He could still sense their pain. All of their pain. He wanted answers. He clinched his fist, disappearing in a swirl of lights. He knew where he would find the answers.


	16. Chapter 16

White Lighter Rage

Leo stood in a sea of clouds. His anger now raging inside him. He looked around, trying to find someone, anyone he could yell at. Seeing Zola he started in his direction. Somebody had a lot of explaining to do. He was a few feet from him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning quickly he saw his dad.

"Leo, son calm down."

"You're kidding, right? Wait, you know why I'm here?"

"Yes." His dad loosened his grip a little. "I understand that you're mad and confused, but you have to be careful."

"Careful! I have to be careful! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Zola walked up, stepping between Leo and his father. "Is there a problem here." His voice was stern.

"You're damn right there's a problem. Why would you keep me away, knowing what the sister's were going through? Why would you even let all of those things happen?" Leo tried hard to control his temper. He had never been this angry before.

"It was their destiny, just like being here was yours." Zola could sense more to it than just his anger. "You love one of them, don't you?"

"That's none of your business." Leo shot back.

"Actually it is, relationships like that are forbidden." Zola turned to face Leo's dad. "You didn't tell him?"

He simply shook his head no.

"What do you mean forbidden? You can't tell me who to love."

"Yes, Leo, I can. You are a white lighter now, your loyalties lie with us." Zola watched as Leo's face grew even more red with anger.

"Take your stupid powers. I never asked for this."

"You have no choice." Zola smirked a little, thinking he head the upper hand. "You have to protect the greater good. We should have been prepared for this." He looked to Leo's dad again. "Some of the other's saw this coming."

"No." Leo looked from his father to Zola. "I don't."

He turned to walk away when he felt Zola grab his arm to stop him. Without thinking twice, Leo swung violently, connecting with the elder's jaw. "Bet they didn't see that coming."

"How dare you!" Zola shouted.

"Screw you!" Leo shouted back as he disappeared in orbs.

"That one's a lot like his father." Zola said, looking over to Christopher.

"More like his mother. I'll try to talk to him." Leo's dad disappeared, hoping he could reason with his son.

Back at the manor things had started to settle down. Paige sat with Phoebe in the kitchen. Both watching as Piper cooked. She cooked a lot when she was stressed. Prue was about to join them when she heard the knock on the door.

"I'll get it." She reached out, opening the door.

"Hey." Andy tried to smile but you could tell he hadn't slept much.

"Andy." Prue felt her heart race. She hadn't seen him since the attack. She wouldn't even talk to him on the phone.

"Please talk to me." His voice cracked a little, almost as if he was about to cry.

She opened the door letting him in. The two walked to the sun room, sitting down on the sofa. Andy started to speak but stopped when Prue help up her hand. "Listen, I know I've been avoiding you, I admit it." She paused, trying to gather her words. "I had my reasons Andy, I wasn't ready to see you, to talk to you then. But, I think I can do it now." Prue started with telling him about her walk. She felt it best to leave out the part about being witches, at least for now.

Andy nodded, never saying a word. He listened as Prue began telling him about the attack. His heart shattered as her voice became shaky. She told him about the man, about how he hit her, about how he raped her. Andy fought back his own tears now as he watched her wipe away hers. She told him about the nightmares, about feeling alone until her sisters made her tell them what happened. The last words she said though, ran through him like a knife. He couldn't help but repeat it. "Pregnant?"

She nodded, not able to make herself look him in the eyes. "I understand if you want to leave. I wouldn't want to be around me either. I'm sorry Andy." She sat there, still not making eye contact with him. She felt his hand gently touch her chin, pulling her face up to where their eyes would meet.

"Prue, you have no reason to apologize. What happened wasn't your fault." He leaned closer to her. "There is nothing that could ever happen to make me not love you. I just wish you would have told me, I should've been here."

Prue let her body rest against his. She felt calm, she felt safe. She felt his arms wrap around her as he pulled her closer to him.

"I swear he'll never touch you again." He tried to hide the anger in his voice. He would get the bastard that did this.

Piper pulled away from the door frame. She wad watched to make sure Prue was ok. Turning around she smiled to her sisters. "I think things are going to get better around here." She had just gotten the words out of her mouth when Leo orbed in. His face still showing the anger he felt.

"You ok?" Phoebe asked, almost feeling out of place.

"No." He walked over to Piper, taking her hand and leading her out in front of the steps. "We need to talk."

"That doesn't sound good." Piper was preparing herself for the worst when she heard another knock on the door. "Hold that thought." She turned from him, opening the door. "Dan?"

"Hey, I just wanted to check on you." He looked concerned, almost angry.

"I'm fine." She watched as he propped himself up on the door frame.

"When I came back you and that Leon guy were gone."

"It's Leo."

Piper turned around to see Leo now standing behind her. Seeing Dan was no where near helping his anger.

"Whatever." Dan looked from Leo to Piper. "Are you sure you're ok?" He placed a hand on her arm.

Piper pulled away from him, now feeling ashamed of herself for letting him believe she wanted him. "I'm fine, look Dan, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let things happen the way they did earlier."

"Why, because of him?" Dan looked at Leo. "You left her you know. She needed someone, she needed a friend. I was there. Where were you?"

Leo felt something inside him snap. Within seconds his fist collided with Dan's jaw just as it had with Zola's. Dan took a step back, almost in shock. "You sonofabitch." He stepped forward, swing and connecting with Leo's nose.

"Hey!" Piper screamed, trying to separate the two. They kept swinging, matching each other blow for blow. Piper reached down, grabbing Dan by the shoulder. Instinctively Dan turned and swung. Regretting it once he'd seen what he had done.

Piper fell against the wall, a hand covering her now swelling eye.

"Piper...I...I" Dan went over to her, kneeling down to check on her.

"What's going on in here?" Prue looked from Leo, to Dan, and finally to Piper who had a knot already starting to form. "What the hell?" Prue ran over to Piper, pushing Dan away from her.

"I didn't mean to. I was fighting with him...and she...I didn't realize it was her."

Leo lunged forward, but was caught mid air by Andy. "That's enough." Andy pushed Leo back, keeping a hand on his chest. Turning to Dan he spoke through gritted teeth. "I think it's time for you to leave."

"But I..I didn't"

Prue cut him off. "Leave now!" She watched as Dan turned around, slamming the door behind him.

Phoebe and Paige came from the kitchen, Phoebe with a wash cloth and Paige with an ice pack. They had watched the whole thing from the kitchen. Paige leaned down, handing the ice pack to Prue while Phoebe tried to help a stubborn Leo.

Leo stepped back from Andy, not realizing the amount of blood that was pouring out of his nose. Phoebe reached up to put the clothe on his nose.

"I'm fine!" He shouted as he jerked away from her.

"You're bleeding." Phoebe said in a smart ass tone, handing the clothe to Leo.

Prue stood up, helping Piper to her feet. "Both of you, in the sun room." She watched as neither of them moved. "Now!" She shouted, making them all jump, including Andy.

Prue walked behind them, almost pushing Leo through the door.

"Well, it's gonna be a long night." Paige looked over to Phoebe.

"Coffee?" Phoebe asked as she looked over to Andy.

"Definitely." Andy followed the two to the kitchen. He still needed to talk to Prue, to take the next steps in catching her attacker. But right now, in this moment, he was so glad he wasn't Leo.


	17. Chapter 17

Ok guys, I am so sorry it took so long for me to update. I know this is a short chapter, but I'm hoping to wrap this story up in a couple more chapters. Bare with me, I'm trying to work on this as well as Begin Again.

Hope you enjoy..

Leo sat on the sofa, hold his head back trying to stop the blood coming from his nose. Piper sat on the opposite end, holding the ice pack o her face.

"Who wants to tell me what happened?" Prue looked at her sister, waiting for her to speak.

"All do respect Prue, I don't think what happened is any of your business." Leo said as he slightly turned toward her.

"Actually Leo, it is. When one of my sisters gets hurt it becomes my business." Prue's tone was fierce and made Leo think twice before saying anything else.

"It was my fault." Piper looked up, her eye now had shades of blue and purple forming around it.

"Dan came by to see if I was ok, I had to tell him about Leo. He got mad and they two of them fought. I just got caught in the cross fire."

Leo slid closer to her, his nose had now stopped bleeding. His hand started to glow as he placed it over Piper's eye, causing the bruise to fade and the swelling to disappear.

"Where exactly did you learn that?" Prue eyed him suspiciously.

Leo looked over, seeing her distrust. "I'm a white lighter."

"A white what?"

"It's like a guide for new witches. I didn't know about till a few months ago and it seems that you guys are my charges." He looked down, thinking about what Zola said about him loving Piper being forbidden.

"What is it?" Piper placed a hand on his.

"We need to talk."

Prue sensing they needed privacy stood up and started for the her room. "I'll give you two a minute."

Leo tried to smile, looking over to Piper. "I talked with the Elders, they said everything that happened was suppose to. They said it was your destiny."

"It was our destiny for Prue to get raped?"

"I know Piper, it doesn't make sense to me either." He stood up, starting to pace.

Prue sat on her bed, her arms wrapped around her legs. Her thoughts started to wander. She let her legs relax as she rested a hand on her stomach. Falling back on her pillow she wondered if it was a boy or a girl. How was she going to do this? She was raising her sisters, she didn't have time to raise a baby. Slowly a tear made its way from her eyes.

"You will be mine."

The hair on her neck stood on end when she heard that voice again. His voice. She turned to see Alex standing there, his clothes were dirty and torn. He smiled at her, making a shiver go down her spine.

"I always knew we'd be together." He walked closer to her, watching as she slid her body away from him, closer to the other side of the bed.

"Stay back." Her voice was steady. She was trying to move him, to use her powers, but nothing was happening.

Alex stuck his hand down the front of his shirt, pulling on a necklace with a blue stone attached. "Your powers won't help you Prue. This protects me." He smiled as he let the amulate rest on the chain. Prue watched as he pulled a knife from behind him, letting the light hit it so she could take the full blade in view.

"HELP!" She screamed, trying to make her way to the door.

Alex cut her off, smiling as he watched her back away from him. "Theirs is no help Prue, we are meant to be together. I've known it for so long. Even back when we were in school, I use to watch you, I wanted you then too." He smiled as he watched her reach back, finding herself backed into the corner.

Downstairs, the three younger sisters heard the scream. Piper was the first to reach the door. She watched in horror as Alex pulled back the now bloody knife, leaving Prue to slowly slide down the wall to the floor.

Alex reared back, preparing to take another stab.

"Freeze."

Piper felt Andy push by her, his gun drawn and aimed at Alex.

"Put the knife down, and step away." Andy couldn't hide the anger in his voice. Everything happened so fast. Alex didn't drop the knife, instead he lunged toward Andy. Everyone jumped at the sound of the gun shots. Alex dropped to floor as Andy brushed passed him to Prue. Her eyes were open but now showed a mixture of fear as well as pain.

An hour later the family sat in the waiting room. Prue had been taken by ambulance to the hospital. Phoebe sat with Paige, she watched as her sister squirmed around in her chair, trying to get comfortable. Paige leaned over, laying her head on Phoebe's shoulder. Phoebe thought back to what Paige had told her earlier, everything that had happened to her. She had always thought that Paige looked so innocent. She couldn't help but think now about the innocence her sister had lost. She hadn't gotten to talk to Prue yet, to be honest she didn't know if she would. She couldn't deal with this alone though, that left only one person she could talk to, Piper.

Piper stood against the wall, Leo pacing back and forth in front of her.

"I don't understand why I couldn't heal her." He looked to Piper, stopping in front of her.

"I don't know, but we have learned the past few months that everything happens for a reason." She let her head rest on Leo's shoulder.

"It just isn't right." Leo watched as a doctor came from the hallway. Pulling Piper with him, they started over to the younger sisters.

"Halliwell family?" The doctor looked closely at the line of young faces in front of him.

"That's us." Piper stepped up, taking her place as the oldest sibling at the moment.

"I'm Dr. Lawrence, I've been treating your sister. She received a pretty severe stab wound but it appears that she'll recover fully." He hesitated, trying to place his words carefully. "We were, however, unable to save the baby. I'm sorry. She'll be able to have visitors shortly." He hung his head as he turned and started back down the hallway.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It had been a week since she was sent home. Prue sat alone in the sun room, resting on the sofa. She stared out the window onto the empty street. No cars, no people walking, the road was quiet. She closed her eyes thinking back over the past few weeks. She went from being the oldest taking care of her sisters, to now being the one that they wanted to protect. This wasn't something she could adjust to easily. She had done so well dealing with everything up until that night. She had her doubts, sure, but she knew she could do it.

"Penny for your thoughts."

Prue turned to see Piper standing in the doorway. She looked different now, almost aged. Piper had been the one picking up the slack, she really took charge. "Nothing really." Prue returned a weak smile to her.

"Prue." Piper sat down placing Prue's feet in her lap. "You're not made of steel you know." She watched as a flicker of emotion crossed her big sisters eyes. Just a flicker, then her clear blue eyes turned back to the empty that they had been for so long now. "I can help Prue, maybe in just a small way, but I can still help by listening."

"Didn't we just do this a few weeks ago?" Prue tried to joke, thinking back to when Piper had talked to her after the attack. She had leaned on her sister then, all of them. She couldn't do this to them again. She looked up, forcing a smile that she hoped Piper wouldn't see through. "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Holding it in won't help anyone Prue."

"I just need some time, that's all." Prue leaned down kissing Piper gently on the forehead before turning to head up the stairs.

Piper sat there alone with her thoughts. Her big sister was dying inside, she could see it in her eyes. She knew something wasn't right with Paige too. She could sense it just the way Paige acted here lately. She was distant, only speaking when she needed to. She thought maybe Phoebe could get through to her, those two always had a bond. Then there was Leo. He had told her some of what the elders had said. Running a hand through her long brown hair she let out a sigh. Someway, somehow, she was gonna put this family back together again.

Upstairs Phoebe sat watching Paige sleep. Her heart broke looking at her baby sister. Paige's innocense was lost and there was no getting that back. She reached up, pushing a strand of hair behind Paige's ear. She knew she needed help with this, there was no way she could handle this on her own.

"Don't you have any other hobbies?" Paige asked, now awake and looking at her sister who seemed to be in a trance.

Phoebe couldn't help but smile a little. As troubled as her sister was, she could still find someway to be a smartass. "Nope." She answered scooting her chair closer to the bed. She reached out placing her hand in Paige's. "I've decided you're my new hobby."

"Lucky me." Paige felt some comfort though, enough to make her feel the guilt again from what she had done.

"Things will get better, I promise." Phoebe looked sincere, as though she knew she was right.

"I know."

Phoebe sat on the bed, pulling her sister up and into a hug. She felt something then, something she knew wasn't coming from her. She felt the guilt that Paige was holding inside. She felt all the emotions her sister was feeling. Thinking back to the book she remembered reading about how each of their powers would grow. She wondered if this was part of it. Sitting there she tried to gain control, tried to separate her feelings from those of the scared girl she held in her arms.

Prue closed the door to her room, trying to make as little noise as possible. She walked over to her bed slowly sitting down. Her body still ached, no matter how bad she tried to hide it. She lay her head against the pillow, just wishing she could forget. Wishing for some kind of peace to take over in her mind.

She remembered back in Jr. High when a friend of hers had lost her boyfriend in a car accident. Julie was her name. Prue was surprised she still remembered her name. Julie had went from breaking down every day to being fine. Prue had questioned her about it, how she was able to deal with it. Julie showed her. She showed Prue the small cuts that she herself had done. A few weeks later Prue told Julie's parents. They ended up moving to some place in the mountains, hoping to help Julie deal with her pain in a better way. Prue sat there now, wondering. Wondering if it really helped her to forget.

She got up, making her way to the bathroom. Locking the door behind her she pulled out a razor, carefully taking out the blade. Looking at it, wondering if she could really hurt herself, she pulled her sleeves up lowering the blade to her arm. She wondered if she'd even feel the pain as she pressed the blade into her skin. _Damn that hurts_. She thought to herself, but then realized another feeling. Something different from pain as she watched the blood now seep from her arm. Closing her eyes she felt herself slip, slip into another state of mind. Carefully cleaning the blade and hiding it to make sure her sisters wouldn't see she placed a clothe on her arm. Looking in the mirror she could see her tired reflection looking back at her, though something was different.

She took in a breath as she thought about it. _Maybe things will get better. As long as nobody knows, maybe..._

TBC

A/N This is the last chapter for the story. I know it's kind of a dark way to end it, but I promise it isn't over. I'm working on a sequel idea, hopefully that will go along faster. I want to finish Begin Again, but who knows, I think I've left the story open for plenty of ideas. For those who read and reviewed, thanks...It's always great to hear what people think about your work. I'm sorry it took so long to update but I have some free time back now, so I think I'll do better from here on out. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas that you'd like to see in the next story...Trying to Be Charmed


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